Multilateralisms: Survival or Revival?
The organized multilateralism born out of the Second World War and the Cold War, and revived in the 1990s with the dream of a world of peaceful “global governance,” has fizzled out. The erosion of the large universal frameworks (United Nations, World Trade Organization, arms control and disarmament, international criminal justice, and so on) did not give way to a void but to an excess: a multitude of agreements and schemes that bore witness to the accelerated rebuilding of international relationships. Will institutional anarchy and the open competition of interests visible in uninhibited struggles for power be able to organize themselves around common fundamental interests in the future?
Today, Lebanon symbolizes all the ambiguity resulting from almost two years of war in Gaza. Once again, the question relates to political and institutional recomposition, the reconstitution of a Lebanese army in charge of guarding its borders. But it is common knowledge that beyond its internal complexity, Lebanon’s future depends on the general fate of the region: Will Israel accept a political solution to Gaza, downgrading the aggressiveness of Hezbollah? Can Syria and Jordan retain a degree of stability? Can relations with Iran be normalized to an extent through a nuclear agreement?
Whether we focus on the complex issues of the Middle East or choose to observe the international system as a whole, the era has all the hallmarks of a time of change, with no certainty on what lies ahead.
MULTILATERALISMS: SURVIVAL OU REVIVAL?
Saving the UN, Saving Multilateralism, by Bernard Miyet
Navigating the Multilateral Seas: Lost in Decomposition?, by Frédéric Ramel
Preparing for and Responding to Pandemics, by Michel Kazatchkine
The Faces of Multilateralism: Arms Control and Disarmament, by Serge Sur
Digital Challenges: Fragmented Governance, by Benjamin Pajot
WHAT WILL POSTWAR LEBANON LOOK LIKE?
Lebanon 2025: Where Wars Intersect, by Joseph Maïla
Lebanon: How Much has Changed?, by Nabil el Khoury
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Syria: Post Assad, the Trap of Permanent Conflict, by Fabrice Balanche
The Baltic Sea and the War in Ukraine, by Philippe Perchoc
BAROMETERS
The “Europe of Internal Security”: An Unknown Quantity, by Jean Mafart
France and Chad: One Crisis after Another, by Nathaniel Powell
South Caucasus: History, Europeanness and Geostrategy, by Pierre Andrieu
REFLECTIONS
The IMEC: Trade Routes in a Multipolar World, by Simon Savary
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June 6th, 2025.
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Multilateralisms: Survival or Revival?
On (New) War
Are the new dynamics of power assertion, the redistribution of influence, and the emergence of new technologies changing both the place of war in the everyday life of our societies and the way war is waged when it occurs? Does the obsession with conflict, combined with technical efficiency, impose upon us a state of permanent latent war? And when weapons speak, does the involvement of modern technologies and the companies that produce them revolutionize both the political decision-making process and the way people are engaged in war? These are fundamental questions raised by the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, and they are already shaping current thinking on military strategy and organization.
The Year He Woke
Vikas Swarup, an Indian writer and former diplomat, is the author of four novels, including Q & A (New York: Doubleday, 2005), which has been translated into 47 languages and adapted for the screen under the title Slumdog Millionaire.
Text published in Politique étrangère, Vol. 91, No. 2, 2026.
War and Technology: An Approaching Military Revolution?
Historically, technological change has altered how battles are fought but has not overturned the fundamental principles of war. However, three considerations may now represent an actual revolution: the recourse to tactical nuclear weapons, the development of software for “multi-domain operations,” and the prospect of general artificial intelligence. The organization of militaries and the use of force need to be rethought in this light.
War and Technology: An Approaching Military Revolution?
Historically, technological change has altered how battles are fought but has not overturned the fundamental principles of war. However, three considerations may now represent an actual revolution: the recourse to tactical nuclear weapons, the development of software for “multi-domain operations,” and the prospect of general artificial intelligence. The organization of militaries and the use of force need to be rethought in this light.