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The Future of Urban Warfare in the Age of Megacities

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Focus Stratégique
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Accroche

Urbanization is a relentless trend, and as cities grow and expand, armed conflict and violence are urbanizing as well. 

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Yemen / Taiz City - Aug 06 2018
Corps analyses

In recent years, cities like Aleppo, Sana’a, and Mosul have suffered siege warfare, aerial and artillery bombardments, and heavy street fighting. Major cities across Europe and Africa are being targeted by terrorist groups and “lone wolf attackers” inspired by ISIS. Even traditionally rural insurgents such as the Taliban and PKK are shifting to cities. In Latin America, where urban violence is fueled by organized crime and transnational drug trafficking, cities in Mexico and Brazil have some of the highest homicide rates in the world. This study traces the drivers behind this rise in urban violence and warfare, assesses the complex challenges military forces face in cities, and analyzes the key demographic, technological, and political developments that have shaped military operations in cities in the 21st century, and will likely characterize future urban conflicts.

Decoration

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ISBN / ISSN

979-10-373-0017-1

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The Future of Urban Warfare in the Age of Megacities

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 A soldier watching a sunset on an armored infantry fighting vehicle
Security Studies Center
Accroche centre

Heir to a tradition dating back to the founding of Ifri, the Security Studies Center provides public and private decision-makers as well as the general public with the keys to understanding power relations and contemporary modes of conflict as well as those to come. Through its positioning at the juncture of politics and operations, the credibility of its civil-military team and the wide distribution of its publications in French and English, the Center for Security Studies constitutes in the French landscape of think tanks a unique center of research and influence on the national and international defense debate.

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From Cuba to Ukraine: Strategic Signaling and Nuclear Deterrence

Date de publication
03 December 2024
Accroche

Strategic signaling—the range of signs and maneuvers intended, in peace time, to lend credibility to any threat to use nuclear weapons—is back.

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Return to the East: the Russian Threat and the French Pivot to Europe's Eastern Flank

Date de publication
13 June 2024
Accroche

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, has flung Europe’s Eastern flank into a new phase of strategic confrontation. It has had a major effect on France’s position, which was previously somewhat timid, leading it to significantly reinforce its deterrence and defense posture in support of the collective defense of Europe, in the name of strategic solidarity and the protection of its security interests.

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Military Stockpiles: A Life-Insurance Policy in a High-Intensity Conflict?

Date de publication
06 December 2022
Accroche

The war in Ukraine is a reminder of the place of attrition from high-intensity conflict in European armies that have been cut to the bone after three decades of budget cuts. All European forces have had to reduce their stocks to the bare minimum. As a result, support to Ukraine has meant a significant drain on their operational capabilities. A significant amount of decommissioned systems were also donated, due to the lack of depth in operational fleets.

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France’s Place Within NATO: Toward a Strategic Aggiornamento?

Date de publication
27 June 2023
Accroche

With a rapidly deteriorating security environment, a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, internal disputes exploding into public view, and questions being raised about the scope of its security responsibilities, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) seemed to be in dire straits at the time of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

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The Future of Urban Warfare in the Age of Megacities