Europe's position in the new world order
Thierry de Montbrial, Executive Chairman of Ifri, is interviewed by Yang RUI for China Global Television Network (CGTN), on the sidelines of the Paris Peace Forum, November 2019. He analyzes the position of Europe in a world dominated by the Chinese-American competition.
Europe’s architecture of security in the current strategic environment: Taking the path toward "strategic autonomy"
As the world stage is marked by renewed great power competition, Europe lacks proper means to assert and defend its own independent political view. Despite this backdrop, the authors of this report contend that the current stalemate can be overcome with a collective and inclusive approach.
Mutual Reinforcement: CSDP and NATO in the Face of Rising Challenges
Over the past five years, several political and security developments have made it increasingly necessary to look at European Union (EU) / North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) relations through a different lens.
Integrating refugees: are small towns inventing a model for tomorrow?
Matthieu Tardis, Research Fellow at the Centre for Migration and Citizenship at the French Institute for International Relations (Ifri), describes how small towns and rural areas are welcoming refugees and enabling them to settle.
The War on Carbon. Five Priorities for the European Green Deal
2019 has marked a fundamental turning point in the energy transition of the European Union (EU).
The Sanctions Policy of the European Union: Multilateral Ambitions Versus Power Politics
Restrictive measures are a major instrument of the European Union (EU)’s external action, which has emerged as one of the world’s leading sanctions emitters. The EU has thus leveraged the size of its market and its economic and financial clout (trade relations, aid policy and bilateral agreements).
France vows sanctions if US goes ahead with planned EU tariffs
France and the European Union are ready to respond "with sanctions" if the United States rejects talks over the Airbus trade dispute, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday. "If the American administration rejects the hand that has been held out by France and the European Union, we are preparing ourselves to react with sanctions," said Le Maire.
Sub-Surface Competition in the Euro-Atlantic Area: The Challenge to Western Dominance
Russia’s Syrian campaign has demonstrated the returning challenge the West faces in the underwater domain.
Is the EU Better Prepared for the Next Migration Challenges?
The European Union did respond to the massive influx of migrants in 2015, but with short-term measures, which have widened the divisions between member states.
Democratization First. The Community Method in CFSP as a Precondition for a European Defense Policy
The recent calls for the militarization of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) require first a comprehensive democratization of European foreign and security policy.
RAMSES 2020. A World without a Compass?
RAMSES 2020. A World without a Compass?, written by Ifri's research team and external experts, offers an in-depth and up-to-date analysis of geopolitics in today’s world.
A Global Governance That Protects? Global governance and the defence of democracy
Global governance emerged to deal with the gap between the plurality and diversity of states and the collective and transnational nature of increasingly complex global affairs.
International trade - Rekindling interest in a multilateral rules-based approach
International trade is one of the themes that used to constitute the very raison d’être of the G7, alongside international security and energy policy.
Think Tank 7 - Recommendation paper for the G7 Presidency
The Think Tank 7 (T7) is an engagement group that brings together the leading Think Tanks from the G7 countries in order to analyze and make recommendations on key issues of the G7 presidency.
Tackling inequalities and vulnerabilities: Why and how G7 development policies could do better
The G7 has made the fight against inequality a crosscutting issue for the Biarritz Summit. The Development Ministerial will address issues of vulnerability, especially the Sahel Alliance. This focus on inequalities and vulnerabilities is nonetheless inseparable from a general discussion on financing sustainable development.
La fourmilière du général : le commandement opérationnel face aux enjeux de haute intensité
Operational command structures have always been able to adapt to the strategic context. However, they now face a new challenge: high intensity threats.
Assessing Europe's Space Dependency and Its Implications
It is a classic exercise to imagine what today’s world would be like if all satellites were shut down. The exact consequences of such a scenario, which is not unlikely given the inherent vulnerability of space systems to natural, accidental and deliberate interferences, are however difficult to appreciate, even for specialists.
Does a European diplomacy exist?
An interview with Thierry de Montbrial, Founder and Executive Chairman of the Ifri, on the occasion of his participation in the Trilateral Commission.
Where Is the SPD Going? The German Social Democrats and the Way out of Crisis
Whether we think of France, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Austria or Germany, the social democratic or socialist parties in Europe are losing ground or even facing dissolution. Ironically, the crisis of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) began with the resounding victory of Gerhard Schröder in 1998.
European Elections: in Germany, traditional parties in the hot seat?
On May 26, the Germans will go to the polls to elect their MEPs. An important election for Germany, where political parties have been in the process of restructuring since the last federal election.
Key messages for Europe from the World Energy Outlook 2014
Hot Energy Topic n° 5, Insight_E publication
Lead Author: Paul Deane (UCC)
Authoring Team: Ulrich Fahl (University of Stuttgart), Carole Mathieu (Ifri)
Reviewers: Kimon Keramidas (Enerdata)
1914–2014: Nation and Nationalism
The increasing militarism prior to the Great War had its roots in national beliefs and ideologies constructed during the 19th century in European countries.
Europe's Place in the World: from 1914 to 2014
The first wave of globalization in the 20th century triggered deep upheaval of the organization of power and an overall depreciation of European nations.
The United States and the ‘Demilitarization’ of Europe: Myth or Reality?
The criticism leveled by Americans at Europe’s neglect of its commitment to defense is not new, and is often exaggerated.
Europe's Continuing Demilitarization
Beginning in the 1970s, becoming solidified with the “peace dividends” in the 1990s and finally accelerated by the financial crisis of 2008, Europe’s demilitarization is undeniable.
The "War to End All Wars": Total War, Total Peace?
The Paris Peace Conference of 1919-1920 marked the end of the First World War whose purpose was to establish the conditions for enduring, if not perpetual peace.
The European Union to Ukraine’s Rescue
Recent events have provided the opportunity for the rekindling of relations between Ukraine and the European Union.
The EU Electricity Policy Outlook for the Smart Grid Roll-Out
The energy transition from a socio-economic system based on fossil fuels to a sustainable low-carbon system is a multi-facetted process. This “transformation” of the energy system, more specifically of the power system, creates several challenges.
Peace as War’s Goal: A Slow Rediscovery
According to the traditional notion of the just war, an armed conflict should lead to conditions of durable peace.
The Primacy of Alliance: Deterrence and European Security
Since the end of the Cold War, the international security environment has been transformed and nuclear weapons have been marginalized in the West. However, the NATO security policies remain almost unchanged: deterrence is still considered as a principle guiding the Atlantic Alliance, even though the actual policy statements lack target, direction and urgency.
Towards Gas-on-Gas Competition in Europe from Trends to Reality?
Last week Centrica announced having signed a three-year gas supply contract with Gazprom Marketing and Trading UK entirely priced against UK spot gas market (NBP). This move follows other announcements in the sector, such as EON long-term gas supply contracts renegotiation, which allowed it to almost double its net-profit forecasts for 2012, or BP intention to sell Shaz Deniz II gas with spot-indexed contracts. All major European suppliers have been able to renegotiate long-term oil-indexed contracts with Gazprom lately and, more generally, contracts are increasingly being based on some spot-indexed price formula. How could that happen and what does it mean?
NATO Partnerships: Shaking Hands or Shaking the System?
The new Strategic Concept takes stock of the past ten years but outlines only modest objectives for the future of NATO. Partnership falls under the third core task, cooperative security. A subsequent partnership policy was unveiled, but has provided little new impetus.
The Development of Public-Private Partnerships in the European Satcom Sector
Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) could help to enhance the societal benefits of communication satellites. However, European public entities must avoid the mistakes made during the Galileo concession negotiations.
Russia and Turkey: Rethinking Europe to Contest Outsider Status
International relations in Europe are now entering a period of flux as the legacy of the cold war wanes and the "outsider" countries, notably Russia and Turkey, are rethinking their mutual relations as well as their place in the world.
The Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline: An Illusion or a Real Prospect
8 % of worldwide gas reserves are located on the African continent. Its relative economic weakness and the almost total absence of gas networks leads to a very reduced interior consumption (almost nonexistent outside Algeria and Egypt) which permits an important export capacity of the continent’s gas. Linking Sub-Saharan-Africa and the European Union (EU) with a gas pipeline thus is a reasonable project in economic terms.
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