The International Security Forum Bonn 2020 facilitated a high-level international dialogue on contemporary topics of foreign and security policy. The goal of the Forum was to foster exchange between experts and practitioners, to identify vital aspects of a successful European foreign and security policy, and to develop holistic strategic solutions for pressing problems. The 2020 Forum focused on the challenges posed by the shifts in transatlantic relations, discussed the findings of the Task Force "The Future of Transatlantic Relations", and evaluated the upcoming global geo-economic and geo-political rivalries which were reinforced by the SARS-CoV-2-pandemic. It was concluded by a two-day workshop on strategic foresight.
Like no other event in the 21st century, the SARS- CoV-2-pandemic has put the international order, as well as the societies, economies, and policies of almost every country on earth to the test. It remains to be seen whether those in positions of influence will succeed in containing the pandemic and in respond- ing successfully to its consequences.
As hardly ever before, political, and economic decision- makers depend on science – first on virologists, but also on other natural and social science expertise. Expertise and novel insights are key, particularly since any political or inaction is likely to have serious social, economic, and political consequences.
Last December’s International Security Forum Bonn 2020 served as an opportunity to identify new topics and redeem existing instruments of political and eco- nomic governance in order to open a new chapter in the transatlantic relations. Joe Biden’s election as 46th President of the United States offers Europe and the United States the perspective to redefine a precious partnership and to find common answers to shared problems.
Although common sense would suggest that an existential threat can only be countered cooperatively, in many places the political reactions, especially of the two great powers USA and China, reinforced the existing geo-economic rivalry, which puts Germany and Europe in particular in a quandary and requires strategic thinking.
Only the historical retrospective will show whether the year 2020 marks a break. However, historians and other scholars can already help to place things into a wider temporal frame, and in doing so contribute to mastering the future.
Little is inevitable, and the future lies in our hands – with this mindset, contributors from Bonn and from around world defied the Covid19-driven impossibility to meet in person, instead meeting in the virtual world.
CASSIS remains committed to fostering new approaches to international security, normative initiatives, and no-smokescreen debates. New realities require new ideas.