The liberal order of the 20ˢᵗ century, based on US hegemony, has come to an end and the world desperately seeks for a redesign of its global system.

The quest for a multipolar world and a balanced world system is accompanied by multiple paradigm shifts: resources shortage, climate stress, overpopulation, re-feudalization, the man-machine, AI, neurological warfare, the end of the “nation” state, the emergence of empires, the break-down of the UN-system, to just name a few.

The G7/ G20 world tries to find “classical” answers to all of that. Progress is attached to technology only, power assigned exclusively to states and capitalism remains unquestioned.

The East-West Forum (EWF) wants to search for heterodox answers, find new solutions, develop alternative societal & political concepts and think differently. It wants to become, over time, the leading platform for innovative ideas for the global system, thinking the unthinkable and discussing the impossible. We think of citizens and humanity, of soul and history, of traditions and the future. We believe in an economy that serves man and respects nature. We value cultural heritage and the roots of history.

The EWF wants to design a realistic utopia for the world in the 20ˢᵗ Century, lifting it outside of the paradigms of the 20ᵗʰ century: Join us in putting everything we know on the table! Help us in designing the peaceful & just world of tomorrow! Dare to leave the thought system…

The East–West Forum brings together distinguished experts, intellectuals, and thought leaders. Istanbul, a city that has long symbolized the bridge between East and West, offers a unique vantage to contribute to a constructive reimagining of relations between Europe, the BRICS countries and the Global South. EWF is committed to advancing critical dialogue on an inclusive and sustainable international security architecture, one that complements existing structures while encouraging a broader, more balanced framework for international cooperation. In the long term, the East-West Forum envisions a Europe beyond the EU that is more self-confident, strategically autonomous, and capable of assuming a mediating role within a multipolar world.

The East–West Forum aspires to position itself as a forward-looking counterpart to traditional security conferences typically held in European capitals and sticking to a “Western-centric framework” of interpretation of the world. The initiators of EWF draw inspiration from the oldest known map of Europe, dating to 1534, which looks toward the Orient while standing firmly on Eurasian ground, an emblem of the perspective the Forum seeks to revive and reinterpret for the present era.