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View all search resultsMiddle powers must make choice in rebuilding global order
The current global order will not reborn from the bottom-up, top-down or from the Global South, but it will come down to middle powers that have the most to lose from a decline of global governance and have the most power to actually change it, according to Munich Security Conference (MSC) CEO Benedikt Franke.
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Munich Security Conference CEO Benedikt Franke (Courtesy of Munich Security Conference/Kuhlmann)
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s the global security landscape undergoes profound changes, the Munich Security Conference (MSC) has sought to broaden its reach beyond its traditional Western base, including through greater engagement with Global South countries. MSC CEO Benedikt Franke, sat with The Jakarta Post’s Yvette Tanamal to discuss the conference’s expansion, its perspective on the shifting global order and the growing role of middle powers in navigating geopolitical uncertainty. Below are excerpts from the interview.
Question: Why is the MSC, historically a transatlantic institution, expanding its focus into the Global South?
Answer: The MSC was rooted in the idea to bring the German and European security elite back together with the United States equivalents after the end of the World War II. In the past 10 years, we have worked really hard to include the Global South; something we should have done much earlier.
We’re not doing it to whitewash, or pretend we have a few exotic people there and that makes us global. It’s really about adding key perspectives to our debates, and a lot of the topics that we are discussing are no longer isolatable. You can’t look at global trade, global economic stability, the increasing power of China and its self-conception without this region.
The Global South plays a particularly important role in issues we are massively interested in, like the future of global governance. How will we reform what our forefathers and foremothers have built up? And how do we avoid the double standards, the inbuilt unfairness and the structural disadvantages that the Global South has faced? And how do we incentivize the Global South to play constructive, productive roles in the global system?
You said in February that Europe is not ready to align with US demands to confront China. Do you see Indonesia facing a similar dilemma, and is its strategy of balancing sustainable?
I have all the sympathy in the world for this idea that a country is going through enormous development stages, has a huge population of 280 million that it needs to feed, has many huge projects, needs stability and does not want to position itself in conflicts that it could potentially stay out of. I understand that. Is that a sustainable position? Obviously not.
