Munich finds foreign fighters

New figures compiled by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence for the Munich Security Report show that by now 1,200 fighters from France and 500-600 each from Germany and the UK have traveled to Syria and Iraq. Russia, meanwhile, has seen even more fighters leave for the region. According to data presented in the paper, 800-1,500 went to Syria and Iraq from Russia to join extremist groups.

The data is part of the Munich Security Report, 70 pages long and published for the first time this year ahead of a three-day meeting scheduled for early February. It is intended as a primer for the conference and presents some food for thought for the host country as well. Last year’s conference was marked by, among other things, the announcement from leading German politicians that the country was ready to play a more active role internationally.

But a new survey conducted by TNS Infratest for the Munich Security Report shows that Germans remain skeptical of a more active German engagement in international crises. Just 34 percent favor a stronger engagement, down from 37 percent last year, and 62 percent say Germany should exercise continued restraint, up from 60 percent in 2014.

This is one of several new and recent polls featured in the Munich Security Report: "Collapsing Order, Reluctant Guardians?". The document introduces the major issues of the current international policy agenda as seen through the lens of the conference organizers and a host of global think thanks that collaborated on the report.

Divided into four sections, the publication shines a spotlight on key actors, major hot spots and emerging challenges on the global stage before suggesting to readers noteworthy reports or books if they want to dive deeper into certain issues.

Conversation starter

To be sure, the Munich Security Report offers no exhaustive treatment or possible solutions for today's most pressing international relations topics. But that was not the intent of the publication, as conference chairman Wolfgang Ischinger states in his introduction.

"The report is meant, first and foremost, as a - hopefully thought-provoking - conversation starter for our conference," Ischinger writes.

"It’s a good development," said Thorsten Benner, head of the Berlin-based Global Public Policy Institute and a regular at the conference. "It shows that the Munich Security Conference is really committed to content, that it is committed to providing policymakers and analysts with the latest thinking on these issues and that they do that with the necessary humility."

Another longtime participant, James Davis, professor of international politics at the University of St. Gallen concurs: "It adds a number of important questions even if it doesn't provide any real answers to them. I think it should be understood as it is advertised to be - an invitation to dialogue."

Both Davis and Benner highlight the section on rising powers and whether some of them are "free riders" as a valuable starting point for further discussion in Munich and beyond.

Another important question posed is "whether the current instabilities we see in the international system are a function of a collapsing order or of a failure on the part of the United States to lead," Davis said.

Data from the World Economic Forum featured in the report suggests that there is a widespread perception of a global leadership crisis. Large majorities from the World Economic Forum’s knowledge network across all regions agree or strongly agree when asked whether there is a global leadership crisis.

Meanwhile, Americans increasingly feel that their country, long considered the world’s leader, is less important as a global leader than it was a decade ago, according to a 2014 study by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs cited in the report. While 48 percent of Americans think the US plays a less important role now than it did 10 years, only 21 percent say it plays a more important role.

Public document

Benner offers a third reading suggestion: "in terms of new and up-and-coming topics is information warfare and in general asymmetric warfare, which we have seen in the case of Ukraine and they highlight that very well in the report."

For instance, a majority of Russians (59 percent), according to a survey compiled by the Levada Center and featured in the report, think that Russian media present an objective picture of events in Ukraine. But 54 percent of those polled are convinced that Ukraine is conducting an information war against Russia, and 55 percent are certain that the US and the West are waging an information war against Russia.

While the Munich Security Conference itself is not open to the general public, even though its key debates will be streamed live via DW's homepage, the report is not just geared for participants, but available for the interested public as well.

"I think this is an important effort to educate the public about the important topics we must talk about and it can also help to correct some of the misconceptions about the conference," Davis said.

You can read the Munich Security Report #link:https://www.securityconference.de/debatte/munich-security-report/:here#.