The Limits of Order

The global order is currently being challenged on an unprecedented scale — including within Europe. Many if not all of the fundamental principles of the international system, together with liberal democratic values, are being abused, eroded, or outright obliterated by a range of revisionist, cynical and aggressive actors. They exploit the West’s complacency, disunity, and unwillingness to act more robustly in defence of those principles and values, employing a mix of methods and strategies that leave Western institutions, governments, and societies exposed, confounded, and off-balance. We are scrambling for a proper response to protect the current order on which our security, prosperity, and freedoms rest—and which the West has taken for granted until now.

Russia’s international behaviour and the efforts by the West to counter it; strategic dilemmas facing the Eastern Partnership countries; emerging security dynamics in the North Atlantic area; political challenges to the European integration project; continuing turbulence in the Middle East; new efforts towards the “weaponisation” of information, and other topical issues were explored during LMC’s plenary and breakout sessions.