Security is more than military and isolation. Why we need a different logic of peace – and why the International Munich Peace Conference is more important than ever.
Every year in February, the Munich Security Conference stages its own relevance as a central location for debates on war, security and global order. In fact, it is a highly westernized elite conference.
Apart from questions of military alliances, geopolitical zones of influence and migration defense, the Global South hardly plays a role at the Munich Security Conference, despite assurances to the contrary. Where actors from the Global South are included, it is primarily in the context of the security policy interests of Western states.
The Munich Security Conference was founded in 1963 as the International Defense Conference and served to integrate the newly established Bundeswehr into NATO in terms of security policy. This legacy still shapes its self-image today: security is primarily conceived in military terms.
The MSC is a Eurocentric and essentially transatlantic conference. Around 80% of participants come from NATO countries or their immediate environment. This thinking is not only geographically limited, but also an expression of a persistent Euro- and West-centric worldview that reproduces colonial power structures and marginalizes global perspectives. Eurocentrism, however, has never contributed to sustainable solutions – neither to the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, global inequality, hunger nor flight and migration.
At the same time, the MSC remains a conference on military security. The experiences of recent decades – for example in Afghanistan – as well as the analyses of the Federal Government’s Advisory Council on Civilian Crisis Prevention show that the military fails when it comes to stabilizing fragile statehood, combating poverty, pandemics or climate change. War is not a suitable political tool.
Military alliances are structurally geared towards confrontation. However, the challenges of our time demand international cooperation, civil conflict management and a consistent focus on human security.
While the Munich Security Conference is financed with tens of millions of euros from state funds and sponsors from the military-industrial complex, the International Munich Peace Conference, which takes place at the same time, receives no comparable public funding.
The International Munich Peace Conference deliberately sets a counterpoint here.
As a civil society, public and critical platform, we create spaces for dialog aimed at disarmament, non-violence, social justice, human rights and global responsibility – beyond military logics and power-political exclusions.
Further information on the program and participants can be found at
https://friedenskonferenz.info/
Brief information for the editorial team
International Munich Peace Conference 2026
Munich, Salesianum, St.Wolfgangs-Platz 11
February 13 – 15, 2026
Main topics: peace, nonviolence, civil society, conscientious objection, security conference, military
