| Date: | 10.02.2026 |
| Time: | 13:00 - 14:15 |
| Location: | Zoom |
At the beginning of February 2026, the world will be paying particularly close attention to the Munich Security Conference (MSC), a leading international forum for security issues: security policy is now at the heart of almost all international political debates. This trend began with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and is being steadily fuelled by the new US foreign policy under President Trump and current developments such as the US intervention in Venezuela. The end of decades of certainty is linked to a second fundamental uncertainty about how security should be understood and promoted today in military, diplomatic, geo-economic and humanitarian terms.
Critics in Germany criticise that this approach neglects and ‘securitises’ key domestic and foreign policy areas, including humanitarian action and development cooperation. The new strategy of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is also intended to serve Germany’s security interests.
However, other critics from civil society complain that security issues are still not being considered and designed holistically in terms of their ‘human security’ dimension but are instead being prioritised and financed in the traditional narrow sense of defence issues. While the National Security Strategy adopted in 2023 emphasises its dimensions in terms of public services and climate impacts, critics lament the lack of implementation of a strategy that is also expected to be revised under the new federal government.
At the same time, the German government has created a National Security Council, long demanded by experts, in order to better coordinate an institutionally fragmented security policy. Depending on one’s perspective, the National Security Council is fuelling fears of instrumentalisation or initial disappointment about its lack of capacity as a strategic centre for analysis, foresight and security policy decisions.
The security policy debate in Germany also remains largely confined to silos and their humanitarian, civil society, military or geopolitical bubbles. Accordingly, the MSC and its public perception focus on classic defence policy issues.
With its ‘Out of the Box’ event on 10 February, the CHA aimed to bring together actors from the Bundeswehr and security policy research, civil society, politics and aid organisations to discuss the future of German security policy and its dimensions.
Speakers:
- Flotilla Admiral Christian Bock, Director Bundeswehr Innovation Center and former Head of Division SK 1, Federal Ministry of Defence (Bundesministerium der Verteidigung)
- Sarah Bressan, Head of Futures and Strategic Foresight, Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi)
Facilitator: Ralf Südhoff, CHA Director
Format: Online
Language: German
The event was recorded. However, due to technical difficulties, the recording will only start a few minutes after start of the event. Please accept our apologies for this.
