Munich Security Conference 2024: Two Wars and a Global Security Prospects

Eunsook Chung

Emeritus Senior Fellow

chunges@sejong.org

On February 16-18, the annual Munich Security Conference was held once again. Founded in the 1960s as an informal military-security dialog between the United States and its European allies, the conference has become a global diplomatic arena for discussing and addressing ongoing global security threats since the end of the Cold War. This article will briefly summarize the key issues and background of this year's Munich Security Conference, the key players, the key takeaways, and the implications for the rest of us.

On the first day of the conference, UN Secretary-General Guterres emphasized the urgency of global challenges such as war and conflict, global south, climate, AI, and fake news, and called for urgent solutions. In fact, this year's Munich Security Dialogue, in its various formats, seems to have encompassed a number of comprehensive security agendas. Nevertheless, the most acute security concerns for U.S. and European leaders at this point in time are the "two wars" in Europe and the Middle East. In addition, as the Presidential Election is expected in America this year, the possibility of a change in the international role of the U.S. under a Trump presidency seemed to underlie the overall conversation.