History & Politics Roundtable: Munich Security Conference

2024 – NATO’s Northern Front

NATO celebrated its 75th anniversary in April 2024. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and US historian Mary Elise Sarotte, author of the book “Not One Inch”, spoke about the major challenges facing the alliance and NATO’s northern border at the 60th Munich Security Conference.

With Sweden and Finland joining NATO in 2023, its northern and eastern borders have changed. Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Mary Elise Sarotte discussed what the past can teach us in dealing with the current challenges of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

They assessed what other countries can learn from the experience of the Baltic States, both under Russian occupation and since the restoration of independence. What should NATO members and the Alliance do to help Ukraine and prevent further Russian aggression? And given numerous elections in 2024 and 2025, how can a balance be found between building prosperous societies and the necessary increase in defence spending?

The event was moderated by Gabriele Woidelko, Head of History and Politics at Körber-Stiftung.

2023 – Challenges in the Baltic Sea region

The current geostrategic and security policy challenges in the Baltic Sea region were the focus of a background discussion at the 59th Munich Security Conference (MSC) on February 18th 2023. Around 20 international experts from the field of politics, history, diplomacy and think tanks took part in the discussion. The Roundtable was jointly organized by the Körber History Forum and the Centre for Geopolitics at Cambridge University.

Who will take the regional leadership role in the Baltic Sea? How can Germany reassure the Baltic states and restore trust? What could a new Ostpolitik in the era of Zeitenwende look like? When thinking about strategy and security in the region, what are the historical pretexts that need to be taken into account? The Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu, historian Brendan Simms and Michael Thumann, foreign policy correspondent of DIE ZEIT offered important insights, impulses and perspectives on these questions.