War and Armed conflict
The geography and modalities of wars and armed conflicts are evolving in step with the international system. While irregular wars and asymmetrical conflicts persist, high-intensity wars are multiplying, while crises are taking on new forms as a result of hybrid threats.
Related Subjects
Russia in the Middle East: Back to a “Grand Strategy” – or Enforcing Multilateralism?
Russian military intervention in Syria was not an attempt to exert dominance as a hegemonic power in the Middle East.
Retours sur Sangaris. Entre stabilisation et protection des civils
In December 2013, France launched its operation Sangaris in the Central African Republic. What conclusions can be drawn for the stabilization of the country and the protection of civilians?
Assessing the Achievements of International Criminal Justice / A New Era of Oil Abundance?
Born from the ashes of two world wars, the concept of international criminal justice took nearly half a century to become anchored in institutions and legal concepts that are independent of specific conflicts. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, that for Rwanda, and the creation of the International Criminal Court, among others, bear witness to the real progress made during the 1990s. This issue of Politique étrangère offers a series of articles that shed light on these achievements and their limits.
Rwanda: How to Judge Genocide?
The extraordinary nature of the 1994 massacres in Rwanda gave rise to the need for “complete justice”, operating judicial processes on several levels.
RAMSES 2016. Climat : une nouvelle chance ?
Written by Ifri's research team and its network of associates, the new RAMSES 2016 analyses geopolitics on a worldwide scale. The major theme of this 34th edition is Climate: A new chance? In addition, RAMSES 2016 tackles the insertion of Africa in globalization and the uncertainties of democracy today in post-industrial societies, but also in the South.
Somalia, the Modern Sisyphus?
Since gaining independence in 1960, Somalia has enjoyed only a few periods of stability.
Turkey and the Armenian Genocide: from Denial to Recognition?
At the close of World War I, denial of the Armenian genocide became a central point in Turkey’s official doctrine.
Revisiting Relations 100 Years After the Armenian Genocide
The 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide will not mark a great historical moment in Armenian-Turkish relations.
Defeating Daesh: A Financial and Military Campaign
The Islamic State has considerable income, mostly from taking control of banks; managing trafficking networks – particularly hydrocarbons – and from external support.
Is Putin’s System Built to Last?
The annexation of Crimea and the Ukraine crisis have enabled Vladimir Putin once again to put on a display of Russian dominance, uniting the nation around core conservative values.
DRC’S Regional Positioning, in Between the African Great Lakes and Southern Africa
How transparent are the Democratic Republic of Congo’s regional strategies?
Turkey: the Sèvres Syndrome, or the Endless War
For Turks, the Treaty of Sèvres symbolises the dissolution of the empire and the carving up of Turkey by foreign powers.
Crimea: The Contradictions of Russia’s Line
After denying Russian intervention in Crimea, President Putin ultimately recognized that it indeed happened and then used fallacious arguments to justify it.
Could Differentiated Integration Unblock the CSDP?
Differentiated integration, which brings some member states together on common means and strategies, appears to be the only route possible to circumvent obstructions to a Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) for the 28 member states.
Syria: Ankara versus Tehran?
Turkish leaders would like to turn their country into the leader of the Middle East. However, they are in competition with another of the region’s key players: Iran.
The Central African Republic: Analysis of a Largely Unknown Crisis
Displaced peoples, insecurity over food and sanitation, economic devastation, worsening community tensions: the Central African Republic is going through what must be the worst crisis in its history.
Disputes in the South China Sea: Troubled Southeast Asian Waters
The strategic position and economic value of hundreds of small islands in the South China Sea have provoked claims of sovereignty from most of the neighboring states.
International Relations: the Era of Anthropologists
Both perpetrators and forms of violence change. States are no longer the central referents of contemporary conflicts. We can no longer understand them as the outcome of a linear history starting from tribal societies and leading to Western political structures.
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