In Search of a New World Order

2025 Munich Security Conference Report — The Call for Global Depolarization in a Multipolar World

The annual Munich Security Conference, held in Munich, Germany, remains one of the most influential platforms for shaping global security. The event brings together world leaders, policymakers, and defence and security experts to address the most urgent geopolitical issues. As we look back on this year’s Munich Security Conference, there are several key topics that must be further analysed.  

An Emerging Crisis

A central theme of the 2025 Munich Security Conference was on how governments can develop strategies and uphold democratic values in an increasingly multipolar geopolitical landscape, a world where power and influence is fragmented among multiple global actors rather than dominated by the United States and its allies. A clear consensus was reached: governments around the world now face a new Cold War between democracies and autocracies, where competing global orders and agendas fight for dominance on the global stage.  

But how can governments work together when they are trapped inside a multipolar world? The time has come for global depolarization—the search for a new world order. One that guarantees an enduring democracy for all.

“Threat from Within”

On day 1 of the 2025 Munich Security Conference, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance delivered a historic speech, where he strongly criticized several European leaders for their approach to free speech. He asserted that the greatest threat to Western democracies is not Russia, China, or any other external actor, but rather, the greatest crisis that we all face together, is one of our own making.  

Vance particularly targeted the United Kingdom, calling out its dictatorial censorship policies and stressed the urgent need to protect freedom of expression. He also condemned the Romanian government for its undemocratic removal of Romanian presidential candidate Călin Georgescu from the federal elections, citing fears of election interference from the Kremlin.

A Reality Check

If dissenting opinions and so-called “far-right” perspectives pose such a threat to Western democracies, then perhaps those democracies were never strong in the first place. It is alarming that the very democracies that claim to uphold freedom are increasingly becoming plagued by authoritarian tendencies.  

The problem lies in the way mainstream narratives tend to align with government policies, making dissenting views more likely to be labelled as “propaganda” — regardless of any legitimate evidence supporting them. Too often, political correctness overshadows critical debate, and those who challenge favoured narratives are dismissed as “wrong” or even worse — “false”. This approach is not just foolish; it silences potentially constructive solutions to existing or emerging concerns.

Western governments and institutions’ propagandist sentiment towards their citizens’ controversial or dissenting viewpoints or opinions is driving the public further away. Fear of censorship, persecution, and even prosecution discourages citizens from holding their leaders accountable and calling for improvements from the very government that they had elected, weakening the trust between political leaders and the people they were meant to serve in the first place. 

The Continuous Fight for Democracy

The only way forward to safeguard true democratic principles is to acknowledge the intentional suppression of differing perspectives in the name of combatting disinformation. Leaders must make a final critical choice: remove censorship entirely or enforce it fully and admit that democracy, in its purest form, no longer exists.  

Politicians around the globe must decide whether they will continue to infringe upon civil liberties or stand up for what is right — ensuring that no voice is silenced, and no debate is dismissed.  

Only the truth shall prevail.

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Anthony Saiters is currently involved in projects with YATA-NATO Canada.