Surprise is a crucial dimension of military tactics, which stems from incertitude inherent to war.
Security and Defense
The relative simplicity of the Cold War has given way to a series of crises and conflicts involving heterogeneous actors and unpredictable situations. Today, security studies require an integrated approach that takes into account both regional and global dimensions, as well as political trends (coalitions, pressure from the media, strategic rivalries and limited wars) and military dynamics (nuclear and conventional capabilities, reduced force structures, types and methods of intervention).
Since the 1990s, Ifri’s Security Studies Center has stimulated debate and contributed to the improvement of strategic thinking in France through its conferences and widely read publications (in French and English). The Center also works on behalf of public and private policymakers through briefs and closed-door seminars.
Ifri's Security Studies Center analyzes traditional defense issues as well as the evolution of the broader field of security. The Center’s programs are designed to be enduring and cross disciplinary, and are conducted with the help of other Ifri research units. Through its innovative work, the Center has two objectives: influencing a wide public with its publications – in particular its two electronic paper series “Focus stratégique” and “Proliferation Papers” – and making recommendations to all the actors involved in public security. Accordingly, various reports and projects are realized on behalf of the Ministries of Defense, the Interior and Foreign Affairs.
Research Fellow, Director of Ifri's Security Studies Center
...Military Fellow, Security Studies Center
...Research Fellow, Security Studies Center
...Research Fellow, Head of the Defense Research Unit - LRD, Security Studies Center
...Research Fellow, Security Studies Center
...Research Fellow, Head of European and Transatlantic Security Program, Security Studies Center
...Deputy Director of Ifri, Editor-in-Chief of Politique étrangère, and research fellow at the Security Studies Center
...Military fellow within the Defense Research Unit of IfriI’s Center for Security Studies.
...Associate Research Fellow, Security Studies Center
...Advisor, Security Studies Center
...Associate Research Fellow, Security Studies Center
...What is the proper place and forum for decisions about war and peace in a democracy? There is surprisingly little consensus on this matter, not in theory and not in practice. While in Iraq, Libya and Syria, all Western actions have ended in failure, it seems necessary to analyze the place and...
The 2015 terror attacks in France and the ensuing activation by the Ministry of Defense of its homeland protection plan opened a new phase in the long history of the French Army’s involvement in internal security.
In December 2013, France launched its operation Sangaris in the Central African Republic. What conclusions can be drawn for the stabilization of the country and the protection of civilians?
Ever since its inception on the eve of World War One, the concept of securing fuel supply has consistently proven its vitality to military operations.
The Kurdish military’s recent history immediately brings to mind images of its mythical female fighters, and of its real victories against Daesh. But its successes have been primarily in Syria. In Iraq, the Kurdish military has been hindered by poor preparation, lack of effective weaponry, and...
Born into the Cold War, the very notion of ‘reassurance’ was revived in the wake of the 2014 Ukraine crisis as NATO had to label the measures destined to reassert the lasting relevance of collective defense towards its member states.
After the world entered the nuclear age, civilian and military organizations have witnessed the slow emergence of nuclear cultures, defined as the set of values and knowledge, shared among the national security community, about the relative importance of nuclear weapons in the country’s...
"Hybrid Warfare" is a fashionable concept, but in order fo it to be really relevant, it has to be visualized within the whole strategic spectrum.
Both the Paris attacks and the San Bernardino shooting reopened the wound of terrorism in the United States. Although President Obama has not shifted his stance or his strategy on the issue, public opinion is worried and populist rhetoric is ever more present in the campaign for the 2016...