The Future of Power: Finding Order in a Time of Chaos - Day 1

Danube Institute’s & The Heritage Foundation’s 5th Geopolitical Summit
15-16 September 2025

The post-war international order - founded on the pillars of liberal institutionalism, global markets, and multilateral consensus - is entering a decisive phase of disintegration. Whether through the strategic recalibrations of the United States under a second Trump administration, the assertive regionalism of emerging powers, or the internal fragmentation of the West itself, the world is now confronting a period of profound disorder. The question is no longer whether the old framework will hold, but rather: what comes next?
This year’s Geopolitical Summit convenes at a time when power is being redistributed - geographically, institutionally, and ideologically. It gathers conservative scholars, statesmen, and strategists to assess the collapse of consensus, the retreat of globalism, and the rise of sovereign realism. But amid this flux, the summit will also explore constructive paths forward: where national interest, strategic autonomy, and civilisational identity may offer the basis for renewed political stability.

Rather than mourn the passing of a liberal age, this conference takes seriously the risks and opportunities emerging in its wake. It asks: What forms of power will define the coming decades - military, economic, cultural, technological? How can nations preserve sovereignty in an era of contested interdependence? And what new norms or alliances might emerge from a world that is neither fully global nor simply multipolar, but structurally unsettled?

By engaging with key themes such as energy security, institutional legitimacy, demographic transformation, and Eurasian competition, the summit aims to articulate a sober and strategic vision for how order might be found - or forged - in a time of chaos.