Search on Ifri.org

Frequent searches

Suggestions

La fin du régiment ? Trente ans de déstructuration de l'organisation tactique régimentaire

Studies
|
Date de publication
|
Référence taxonomie collections
Focus Stratégique
Image de couverture de la publication
La fin du régiment ? Trente ans de déstructuration de l’organisation tactique régimentaire
Accroche

The new organization of land forces breaks with a centuries-old tactical order: the regiment. Born out of political constraints that have shaped its history, the regimental order has accompanied the rise of the nation state; the Third Republic, for instance, entrusted it with political, social, and cultural functions. 

Corps analyses

The implementation of the so-called modular organization of the Army - which is disrupting the regimental principle - stems likewise from political developments that, in this case, first emerged in the early 1980s. Caught between demands for additional engagements abroad and the reality of scarce resources to accomplish such objectives, the Army is forced to cobble together ad hoc solutions. As a result, the tactical organization of the regiment has been deconstructed: the body of troops, thus dismantled, has been transformed into a "reservoir of resources." At the turn of the century, military austerity had led to the normalization and standardization of this practice of "modular" tactical organization, which seizes from the regiment what is needed to equip task forces deployed in distant theaters. At the same time, this policy requires joint defense bases to aggregate the resources that once provided the regiment with its autonomy. In short, it's unclear what the commanding officer is now commanding. Is this the end of the regiment?

 

This content is available in French: La fin du régiment ? Trente ans de déstructuration de l’organisation tactique régimentaire

 

Decoration

Available in:

ISBN / ISSN

978-2-36567-208-5

Share

Decoration
Author(s)
Image principale
 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.

Image principale

The Evolving Role of Nuclear Rhetoric in Iran’s Strategic Calculus

Date de publication
03 July 2025
Accroche

How has the Iranian strategic discourse about nuclear weapons and deterrence evolved? 

Image principale

Design, Destroy, Dominate. The Mass Drone Warfare as a Potential Military Revolution

Date de publication
18 June 2025
Accroche

The widespread use of drones observed in Ukraine—both in terms of the scale of the fleets deployed and their omnipresence in the operations of both belligerents—appears to meet the conditions of a genuine military revolution.

Vincent TOURRET
Image principale

The Hunt for Economic Security: The Role of Navies in Deterring Threats to the Maritime Economy

Date de publication
10 June 2025
Accroche

The maritime domain is currently faced with a wide variety of threats, such as climate change, economic warfare, shadow fleet operations, protection of critical infrastructures, and illicit activities ranging from illegal fishing to piracy. Navies suffer from inherent limitations when deterring threats to the global maritime economy: their global presence and permanence limits their credibility in terms of deterrence, their focus usually set on immediate deterrence, implementing deterrence by punishment in and from the naval domain is difficult and costly.

Olivier SCHMITT Louise TUMCHEWICS
Image principale

A Fragile Consensus? The Pressure on the Norm Against Nuclear Testing

Date de publication
22 April 2025
Accroche

Apart from North Korea, no state has conducted explosive nuclear tests in the 21st century, reflecting the emergence of a strong international norm against such testing.

Doreen HORSCHIG

How can this study be cited?

Image de couverture de la publication
La fin du régiment ? Trente ans de déstructuration de l’organisation tactique régimentaire
La fin du régiment ? Trente ans de déstructuration de l'organisation tactique régimentaire, from Ifri by
Copy