To what extent has the COVID-19 pandemic affected defense priorities across Europe?

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
...Research Fellow, Security Studies Center
...Military Fellow, Defense Research Unit (LRD), Security Studies Center
...Director of Research and Communications, Editor-in-Chief of Politique étrangère, and research fellow at the Security Studies Center
...Associate Research Fellow, Security Studies Center, Defense Research Unit
Military Fellow, Security Studies Center, Defense Research Unit (LRD)
...Research Fellow, Security Studies Center
...Research Fellow, Security Studies Center, coordinator of the Defense Research Unit (LRD)
...Associate Research Fellow, Security Studies Center
...Research Fellow, Head of Ifri's Geopolitics of Technologies Program
...




France has traditionally taken a security-based approach to the fight against terror. It was a latecomer to the field of radicalization prevention and the establishment of disengagement programs aimed at jihadists. It only started to think seriously about the issue in 2013 and its first...
From basic training to the conduct of international exercises, operational readiness planning aim to make the components of military capabilities (equipment, doctrines, operational know-hows) consistent with the operational contracts decided at the strategic level.
What are the next geopolitical challenges of the century? The global pandemic has altered the equilibrium between Asia and the West and sealed the rift between China and the United States, accentuating the world’s shift towards the East. On this polarized chessboard, two fault lines converge:...
The topic of nuclear risk reduction has gained momentum in the international security debate among policymakers, nongovernmental organizations, and experts.
With a look at evolutions over the past three decades, the thematic chapters cover French defense institutions and civil-military relations, the transformation of armed forces, nuclear deterrence, the defense industry, military interventions, and alliances.
China is in the midst of a long-term effort to develop a world-class space program with a strong military and national security component.
In the Aachen Treaty in 2019, Germany and France agree to deepen their "common program in defense matters" and to pursue a common vision in terms of arms export. These are the preconditions that will help consolidate a culture of common armed forces, common interventions, and European defense...
The untold story of the thriving yet complicated defense relationship of two countries caught between strategic decline and global ambitions. As the UK leaves the European Union and as the multilateral international order is increasingly under stress, bilateral security links are more...
A full-blown war erupted in the South Caucasus last Sunday, September 27, and as the two belligerents — Armenia and Azerbaijan — mobilize their forces under martial law, no international authority is trying in earnest to stop the hostilities. The conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh...
Collective Collapse or Resilience? European Defense Priorities in the Pandemic Era
To what extent has the COVID-19 pandemic affected defense priorities across Europe?
French Defence Policy Since the End of the Cold War Book Launch
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.
4x4 Directors Forum 2020 African-European Think Tank Dialogue
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....
Division or Reconciliation: The Changing Political Agenda and Role of Think Tanks in the Next Decade? Council of Councils Twelfth Regional Conference
The 12th regional conference of Council of Councils (CoC) will take place at Ifri from November 17 to 19, 2019. An initiative of the Council on Foreign Relations, the CoC strives to define major foreign policy challenges by...
Global cybersecurity challenges: Disentangling risks and opportunities in international politics Ifri-PCNS Roundtables
International politics are increasingly intertwined with cyber-related issues. Cyberattacks are more and more frequent and sophisticated; their perpetrators, like their victims, may be governments or private actors.
QUAD 2018 Annual Meeting
Since 1983, the QUAD gathers every year, the SWP, RAND Corporation, Chatham House and Ifri.
Eurosatory conference: "Strategic Landpower for the 21st Century" Conference-debate
Landpower has long been dissociated from "strategic forces", as these generally refer to long-range and/or high-yield strike capabilities.However, the recent military commitments contest this notion and highlight the current and future strategic value of landpower.
Shedding New Light on Terrorism in France
France is the Western country the most severely impacted by acts of terrorism. Some 1300 French citizens have left for Syria and Iraq, among which 330 have returned.
A researcher said that ‘the balance is shifting, including in countries such as Germany’ on the role of nuclear weapons in Europe’s strategic ambitions.
...France, the European Union's sole nuclear power since Britain's exit from the bloc, will unveil Friday how it intends to use its atomic arsenal as a deterrent in an increasingly unstable world.
An interview with Michael Fullilove, Executive Director of the Lowy Institute, by Jean-Dominique Merchet, Defense and Diplomatic Correspondent, L'Opinion.
On July 16, Djamel Beghal is expected to be released from the Rennes-Vezin prison in the west of France. Beghal is a well-known figure in the European jihadist sphere. Born in Algeria in 1965, he settled in France in 1987. Ten years later, he moved to the United Kingdom with his French...
Corentin Brustlein, head of Ifri's Security Studies Center, has appointed as a member of the United Nations Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters. He is attending the 69th Session of the Council, which is...
An interview with Jon WOLFSTHAL, nonresident scholar, Nuclear Policy Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Philippines' President wants to limit islamist groups' capacity after several attacks in the South of the country.
Opinion column published in "The Globe and Mail"
Sentinel represents a watershed development in French military operations. For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the number of French army soldiers actively deployed in metropolitan France roughly equals that of overseas operations. But the military establishment here is far...
The alliance is struggling to assemble four battalions to safeguard its eastern flank from a possible Russian attack. In addition, many member states are falling short of their...