The 56th Munich Security Conference (MSC) will discuss a theme coined as “westlessness”, the loss of the common standing of what it means to be part of the West.

According to the organizers, the westlessness means a widespread feeling of uneasiness and restlessness in the face of increasing uncertainty about the enduring purpose of the West. Many security challenges seem to have become inseparable from what some describe as the decay of the Western project.

The MSC 2020 will seek answers and solutions to this fundamental question by examining the European project, defense cooperation, and the liberal international order as a whole.

Decision-makers and experts from across the world will also discuss hotspots from Libya to the Persian Gulf and further to East Asia, the trade disputes between the EU and the US, and the discord between Germany and the US over the project “Nord Stream 2”.

Pressing global challenges will be a focal point, above all the effects of climate change, but also the intersections of trade and technological progress with international security.

More than 500 high-level international decision-makers are expected at the conference.