Is the world becoming less Western? Is the West itself becoming less Western, too? What does it mean for the world if the West leaves the stage to others? What could a joint Western strategy for an era of great power competition look like?

The Munich Security Report 2020 sheds light on the phenomenon that it refers to as "Westlessness" – a widespread feeling of uneasiness and restlessness in the face of increasing uncertainty about the enduring purpose of the West. A multitude of security challenges seem to have become inseparable from what some describe as the decay of the Western project. What is more, Western societies and governments appear to have lost a common understanding of what it even means to be part of the West. Although perhaps the most important strategic challenge for the transatlantic partners, it appears uncertain whether the West can come up with a joint strategy for a new era of great-power competition.

The Munich Security Report 2020 analyzes current security policy developments in China, Europe, Russia and the United States, and furthermore examines regional dynamics in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and South Asia. In addition, it provides insights into the issues of space and climate security, as well as into the threats arising from new technologies and increasingly transnational right-wing extremism.

The Munich Security Report features a number of exclusive and unpublished materials. For the preparation of the report, the Munich Security Conference Foundation collaborated with renowned partner institutions, including the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), The Brookings Institution, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, International Crisis Group, The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), McKinsey & Company, Pew Research Center, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), and the Zentrum für Osteuropa- und international Studien (ZOiS).

In this context, the Munich Security Report 2020 provides an overview of major security policy challenges and features insightful data and analyses across selected geographic and thematic spotlights. In addition to its role as a conversation starter for the Munich Security Conference, the report series has also become a go-to resource for security professionals and the interested public around the world. The previous report was downloaded more than 30,000 times and received widespread coverage in German and international media.

page 58( from Munich Security Report 2020 Westlessness)
These are no abstract debates about numbers: for many people, the changing climate is already a security threat. Between 2008 and 2018, 87 percent of internal displacements worldwide were caused by weather-related disasters rather than conflicts.5 Going beyond 1.5°C warming will increase both “intensity and frequency” of such events.6 More than 140 million people could become internally displaced by 2050 due to climate change in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America alone.7 Often, those experiencing the most extreme effects of climate change are also the most vulnerable to them: two-thirds of the world’s most fragile states are highly exposed to climate change.8 At the same time, the Least Developed Countries receive only a fraction of global climate assistance: of USD 71.2 billion raised in 2017, less than 15 percent were allocated to them.9 Furthermore, where climate exposure coincides with a lack of state efficiency or legitimacy, the risk of violent internal conflict increases.10 While the effect of climate change on armed conflict within states has only been modest so far, it is expected to rise with global temperatures.11 The same holds true for interstate conflict, as climate change may exacerbate resource scarcity or create new and contested abundance.12