08/09/2022
For its 41th edition, RAMSES 2023. Europe at War, written by Ifri's research team and external experts, offers an in-depth and up-to-date analysis of geopolitics in today’s world.
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.
Elie TENENBAUM
Research Fellow, Director of Ifri's Security Studies Center
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Jérémy BACHELIER
Military Fellow, Security Studies Center
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Laure DE ROCHEGONDE
Research Fellow, Security Studies Center
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Héloïse FAYET
Research Fellow, Security Studies Center
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Amélie FEREY
Research Fellow, Coordinator of the Defense Research Unit - LRD, Security Studies Center
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Marc HECKER
Director of Research and Communications, Editor-in-Chief of Politique étrangère, and research fellow at the Security Studies Center
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Alice PANNIER
Research Fellow, Head of Ifri's Geopolitics of Technology Program
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Léo PÉRIA-PEIGNÉ
Research Fellow, Security Studies Center
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Jean-Louis LOZIER
Advisor, Security Studies Center
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Jean-Christophe NOËL
Associate Research Fellow, Security Studies Center
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The prospect of completely eliminating nuclear weapons seems distant. In sharp contrast with the pragmatic ambitions outlined by Barack Obama in his 2009 speech in Prague, and even more so with the hopes brought about by the fall of the Berlin Wall, nuclear weapons should no longer be perceived...
Western armies today face a triple challenge. First, they have been involved in “wars amongst populations” for twenty-five years, having to cope with failed states, fractured societies, and irregular adversaries. Counterinsurgency (COIN) may be out of fashion, but stabilization operations remain...
The Observatory on Future Conflicts is a multiannual frame contract run by the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS), the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) and Geo4i under the supervision of the three armed services headquarters (Air Force,...
Europe is faced with a degradation of its security environment, which affects all of the neighboring regional theaters and occurs along the entire conflict spectrum (Russian strategic resurgence, instability and civil wars around the Mediterranean Sea, changing patterns of jihadist terrorism, etc...
The porosity of borders has become a key characteristic of contemporary international relations. While this has long been recognized for trade and information networks, it also has an impact on the field of defense and security.
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19/08/2022
Dating back to the first test in 1964, the Chinese nuclear force modernization process is motivated by other nuclear powers’ modernization across the years, mostly from the United States and the Soviet Union, but also by domestic factors such as economic debates and tensions in the scientific...
27/07/2022
After twenty years of counter-terrorism, the Ukrainian battlefield marks the renewal of so-called “high-intensity” warfare. It constitutes a major strategic turning point, reversing the contemporary model of wars involving the West.
24/06/2022
Ukrainian institutions have overall withstood the shock of the war: the central government and local authorities benefit from a real legitimacy and a solid ability to govern.
24/05/2022
While the automatization of machines is part of an already long historical, conceptual, and technical trajectory, the exponential progress of artificial intelligence techniques, robotics and their military applications suggest the emergence of systems that integrate more autonomy. Indeed,...
18/05/2022
The invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces on February 24th displays undeniable nuclear attributes. The purpose of this text is to analyze the initial lessons of this conflict, with regard to the balance of forces between nuclear powers.
10/05/2022
Nearly a decade after its successful war against terrorism in Mali, France is now in the process of turning a page in its military history in Africa. The upcoming end of Operation Barkhane, scheduled since the spring of 2021, comes, however, in a particularly deteriorated strategic context.<...>
04/05/2022
South Korea's defense modernization plan, Defense Reform 2.0, represents a significant effort in terms of military capabilities since 2018. The outgoing president, Moon Jae-in, has placed particular emphasis on high-tech acquisition as well as transforming the Korean defense...
26/04/2022
Through multiple international initiatives, including the creation of the Arctic Council at the end of the Cold War in 1996, the Arctic appears to be one of the last areas of peaceful cooperation in the world. This “Arctic exception” is also devoid of any serious territorial dispute between...
05/04/2022
Defined as the use of law to establish, perpetuate, or change power relations in order to counter an adversary, lawfare practices reflect a reality that is inherent in international law.
05
Sep
2022
from 18:00 to 19:00
- Conférences
Ukraine: the epicenter of all crises? Ifri Conferences
Russia's invasion of Ukraine last February provoked a war of attrition that is still ongoing. In the meantime, the conflict has fueled intertwined economic, humanitarian, energy and food crises. This discussion aims to discern the conflict's immediate and future effects.
09
Jun
2022
from 12:30 to 14:00
- Conférences
Toward a New European Security Order? Foreign Policy Shifts in Response to Russia’s War on Ukraine Ifri Conferences
Russia’s war on Ukraine has shaken the foundations of Western foreign policy and the multilateral rules-based order. Institutions built to preserve this order – like NATO, the G7, and the EU – have had to rethink their threat assessments and postures. France, Germany, Italy, and the UK have...
14
Mar
2022
from 17:30 to 19:00
- Conférences
NATO: What to Expect from the New Strategic Concept? Open access conference (hybrid format)
A conference with Benedetta Berti, head of Policy Planning in the Office of the Secretary General at NATO.
25
Oct
2021
from Monday 25 October 2021 14:00 to Tuesday 26 October 2021 12:30
- Seminars and Round-table Conferences
QUAD 2021 Annual Meeting
Since 1983, the QUAD gathers every year, the SWP, RAND Corporation, Chatham House and Ifri. The QUAD was set up during the Euromissile crisis and brings together European and American diplomats, military officers, journalists and research fellow to debate on current geopolitical issues.<...>
21
May
2021
from 10:00 to 12:00
- Videoconferences
European security: from words to deeds - lessons from the Franco-Danish partnership Visioconférence
Global power competition, growing unpredictability, mounting military pressures, hybrid threats and the persistence of terrorism... Europe is now facing a deterioration of its strategic environment.
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23
Feb
2021
from 14:00 to 15:30
- Videoconferences
Collective Collapse or Resilience? European Defense Priorities in the Pandemic Era
To what extent has the COVID-19 pandemic affected defense priorities across Europe?
17
Feb
2021
from 16:30 to 18:00
- Videoconferences
French Defence Policy Since the End of the Cold War Book Launch
14
May
2020
from 14:30 to 15:30
- Videoconferences
Between clear perils and black swans: the strategic challenges after COVID-19 Les Jeudis de l'Ifri
A "Les Jeudis de l'Ifri" videoconférence around Corentin BRUSTLEIN, Director of Ifri's Security Studies Center.
03
Feb
2020
from Monday 3 February 2020 14:00 to Tuesday 4 February 2020 14:00
- Seminars and Round-table Conferences
4x4 Directors Forum 2020 African-European Think Tank Dialogue
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21
Nov
2019
from Thursday 21 November 2019 12:30 to Friday 22 November 2019 12:30
- Seminars and Round-table Conferences
QUAD 2019 Annual Meeting, London
Since 1983, the QUAD gathers every year, the SWP, RAND Corporation, Chatham House and Ifri. The QUAD was set up during the Euromissile crisis and brings together European and American diplomats, military officers, journalists and research fellow to debate on current geopolitical issues....
15/09/2022
One year on, the announcement of the Australia-U.K.-U.S alliance has not been accompanied by any major changes to France’s Indo-Pacific defense strategy.
28/06/2022
When Prime Minister Fumio Kishida becomes the first Japanese leader to attend a NATO leaders summit on Wednesday, he’ll be looking to stress the need for unity in preventing China from taking the “wrong lessons” from the Ukraine war as the bloc looks to expand its footprint in the Indo-Pacific...
30/05/2022
The frantic rate of attacks from the air seems to have contributed to the recent retreat of Ukrainian forces on the Donbas front.
28/04/2022
Western countries are supplying Kyiv with heavy weapons, abandoning the caution shown at the start of the conflict. The aim is to restore the Ukrainian army's strength and block the Russian war effort in the Donbas.
03/01/2022
Technologies from big data to quantum computing, artificial intelligence and next-generation drones are fueling power struggles between nations and large industrial companies. Alice Pannier, head of the...
28/10/2021
BEIJING, Oct. 28 -- The 5th session of Beijing Xiangshan Forum Webinar 2021 was held on the evening of October 26 around the topic of “Strategic Stability: Impasse and Way Out”, in which the establishment of the so-called trilateral security partnership, AUKUS, by the US, Britain and Australia...
22/09/2021
French admiral says US has broken a pact among nuclear powers on the UN Security Council by agreeing to sell nuclear submarines.
08/09/2021
"Still now I have the images of the corpses next to my feet": Olivier Laplaud and his wife were in the Bataclan enjoying themselves amongst a crowd of 1,500 people when everything changed in an instant.
04/07/2021
France has repatriated more than half the people it defined as radical Islamists living in the country without a residence permit since 2018. Now it wants to extend the penalty and deport even more.
07/06/2021
Assimi Goïta vows to uphold republican regime and democracy in Mali.