Debating Security Plus is a global online brainstorm that aims to yield concrete recommendations. It builds on Friends of Europe‘s experience with other online debates and gathers several thousand experts around the world. The 2017 event will bring together senior international participants from the military, government and multilateral institutions along with voices from NGOs and civil society, business and industry, the media, think tanks and academia.
This year’s debate will also draw on Debating Europe’s unrivalled community of 2.5m citizens across Europe and beyond. Their involvement in our security policy brainstorm will help bridge the gaps between experts and voters.
In previous years, our security brainstorms have pulled together up to 4,200 participants, and their recommendations were fed into the policy thinking that shaped NATO’s Strategic Concept in 2010 and the EU’s Global Strategy in 2016.
The connections between security, defence, economic development and policies on environmental, migration and social questions are today inescapable. They inform strategic thinking on defence and security structures and capabilities. Security today is as much about ensuring peace and stability through promoting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as it is about improving military capabilities.
From 26-28 September the international security community will for 48 hours debate ideas relating to six different themes, each introduced by video messages from leading figures of the security and defence sector. Moderators will steer discussions towards concrete recommendations, and will also highlight disagreement as well as consensus. In-depth ‘rapid-fire chats’ will be hosted by partner organisations, allowing participants to zero in on highly specific topics.
Interested? The registration link is available here.