The year 2022 marks thirty years since the creation of the Commandement des operations spéciales (COS, Special Operations Command). Those three decades have been dominated by missions carried out in volatile environments, most often against irregular adversaries, primarily terrorist groups.

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
...Research Fellow, Security Studies Center
...Research Fellow, Security Studies Center
...Research Fellow, Coordinator of the 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
...Research Fellow, Head of Ifri's Geopolitics of Technology Program
...Research Fellow, Security Studies Center
...Advisor, Security Studies Center
...Associate Research Fellow, Security Studies Center
...Cloud computing – or data management – is considered as one of the pillars of the digital transformation of the French Ministry of the Armed Forces.
In the summer of 2020, the Central and Eastern Mediterranean became the center of unusual tensions between France and Turkey. Given that these tensions were also military, which is uncommon for the two countries, the perception that the French military has of Turkey’s army and its doctrine is...
The increasing autonomy and digitization of battlefields implies a re-examination of Man Machine Teaming (MMT). While Artificial Intelligence (AI) has significant benefits, the human cognitive system remains unique until this day. Nonetheless, as demonstrated by the “centaur” approach, man...
Twenty years after 9/11, the assessment of the “War on Terror” is mixed: heavy financial and human costs, weakening of Al-Qaeda central and the Islamic State in the Levant, but creation of affiliates in different locations, fatigue of endless wars, etc.
As an essential platform for multilateralism, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has always been important to German diplomacy, although in varying degrees. Historically, Germany’s support for the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe...
Hypersonic Weapons: What Are the Challenges for the Armed Forces? Briefings de l'Ifri, June 18, 2021
Hypersonic systems are becoming attributes of power for the states that design and implement them, at the risk of reviving an arms race.
La Guerre de vingt ans was awarded the Prize for the best book on geopolitics in 2021.
What does future hold for the Franco-British defense partnership after Brexit?
In Germany's parliamentary democracy, political parties play an important role in mandating Bundeswehr missions abroad and in overseeing their deployment. The political debate on these deployments is polarized between opponents, who are called “pacifists”, and supporters, who are called ...
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.
QUAD 2017 Annual Meeting
Since 1983, the QUAD gathers every year, the SWP, RAND Corporation, Chatham House and Ifri.
Estonia and European Security after the Warsaw Summit
Closed-door Seminar with Her Excellency Kersti KALJULAID, President of the Republic of Estonia.
Iran after the Nuclear Deal: Open for Business? Les Mensuelles Ifri/Entreprises
These luncheon-debates are dedicated to corporate and individual benefactor members. By personal invitation only.
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Eurosatory seminar: "Training and Equipping Foreign Forces" Lessons and Future of Capacity-Building
This event will cross various perspectives on the strategic rationale behind capacity-building efforts, assess current and future challenges to those endeavors, and provide an overview of how the European Union and France implement it in the field and in...
Japan’s New Security Legislation: A Rupture with its Postwar History?
Makoto Iokibe, a renowned expert of Japanese diplomatic history and security policy, will offer his insight on Japan’s new security legislation.
Regional and Global Impact: The Changing Situation in Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea Area
The French Institute of International Relations and the Embassy of Sweden in France are jointly organising a closed seminar with the Swedish Defence Minister, Peter Hultqvist, and the Director General for International Relations and Strategy at the French Ministry of Defence, ...
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...