The New Global Security Stakeholders: How Public-Private Cooperation Can Advance Security and Stability

The report examines the shifting global security landscape where the private sector has become a key stakeholder due to its ownership of critical infrastructure and frontier technologies like AI. It argues that traditional state-led security models are misaligned with 21st-century risks and recommends building trusted, incremental coordination mechanisms through minilateral groupings and sectoral frameworks to prevent and de-escalate conflict.

• The global security environment has shifted from a state-managed system to a shared operating environment where the private sector is a key component of the security architecture, controlling essential capabilities such as cloud and AI infrastructures, shipping, logistics, and energy systems.
• Three primary disruptions are reshaping global security: the return of military conflict as a tool of statecraft (exemplified by Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the 2026 Iran war), a fragmented information landscape characterized by disinformation, and intensifying competition over frontier AI.
• The private sector's role in security now extends into traditional state domains, including the nuclear domain, where national leaders may depend on commercial AI for sensor fusion, early-warning interpretation, and decision support during potential nuclear weapons exchanges.
• Effective public-private security cooperation is hindered by structural distrust and divergent incentives, where states prioritize control and security outcomes while firms prioritize commercial viability and regulatory predictability.
• The report suggests a 'scaling logic' for cooperation, using high-trust minilateral groupings (such as the G7 or B7) as proof-of-concept laboratories to test mechanisms before adapting them for broader regional or multilateral platforms like NATO, ASEAN, or the Africa Union.
• Frontier AI has inverted traditional security schemas because the most consequential capabilities are owned by a small number of private 'hyperscalers' rather than states, creating challenges for attribution and deterrence due to the technology's dual-use nature.
• To secure AI, the report proposes three types of mechanisms: sectoral (anomaly-sharing networks), technical (co-designed thresholds for government scrutiny), and monitoring (independent assurance regimes to benchmark systems for misuse).

APA

World Economic Forum (2026). The New Global Security Stakeholders: How Public-Private Cooperation Can Advance Security and Stability. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_New_Global_Security_Stakeholders_How_Public_Private_Cooperation_Can_Advance_Security_and_Stability_2026.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. The New Global Security Stakeholders: How Public-Private Cooperation Can Advance Security and Stability. 2026. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_New_Global_Security_Stakeholders_How_Public_Private_Cooperation_Can_Advance_Security_and_Stability_2026.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=The New Global Security Stakeholders: How Public-Private Cooperation Can Advance Security and Stability |date=September 2026 |url=https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_New_Global_Security_Stakeholders_How_Public_Private_Cooperation_Can_Advance_Security_and_Stability_2026.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2026new, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{The New Global Security Stakeholders: How Public-Private Cooperation Can Advance Security and Stability}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2026}, month = sep, url = {https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_New_Global_Security_Stakeholders_How_Public_Private_Cooperation_Can_Advance_Security_and_Stability_2026.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }