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Security - Defense

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As a result of global strategic competition, security and defense issues are marked by the return of major wars and nuclear deterrence, the transformation of terrorism and the race for military technologies.

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Date de publication
October 2025

Expanding SPDMM as a pivotal institution in the Pacific – A French perspective

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10 MARCH 2025: The French aircraft carrier Strike Group, the Charles De Gaulle and support vessels leave the Indo-Pacific region.
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10 MARCH 2025: The French aircraft carrier Strike Group, the Charles De Gaulle and support vessels leave the Indo-Pacific region.
Credits : DLeng/Shutterstock.com
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The South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting (SPDMM) is the only forum that brings together defense ministers from the wider South Pacific — including Chile, which is hosting it for the first time. This heterogeneous group of countries with varying resources, capacities, and interests — Australia, Chile, Fiji, France, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea (PNG), and Tonga — are united by their shared determination to strengthen cooperation on maritime security and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) activities.

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Paris attacks: Survivors hope for justice as France's biggest criminal trial in history begins

08 September 2021
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"Still now I have the images of the corpses next to my feet": Olivier Laplaud and his wife were in the Bataclan enjoying themselves amongst a crowd of 1,500 people when everything changed in an instant.

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France hopes deporting more alleged radicals will bring security

04 July 2021
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France has repatriated more than half the people it defined as radical Islamists living in the country without a residence permit since 2018. Now it wants to extend the penalty and deport even more.

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Army colonel sworn in as Mali president as tensions with Paris grow

07 June 2021
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Assimi Goïta vows to uphold republican regime and democracy in Mali.

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France Halts Joint Military Operations with Mali Over Coup

03 June 2021
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PARIS - France said Thursday it would suspend joint military operations with Malian forces after the West African country's second coup in nine months, adding to international pressure for the military junta to return civilians to positions of power.

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Germany calls for closer cooperation with France over security threats

21 April 2021
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German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has called for closer bilateral cooperation with France in light of the tense security situation in Europe marked by the Russian “threat”, the rise of China and spreading “Islamist terrorism” in the Sahel region.

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France to spell out nuclear plan

08 February 2020
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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 EU’s sole nuclear power since Britain’s exit from the bloc, was to unveil how it intends to use its atomic arsenal as a deterrent. French President Emmanuel Macron, in an address to military officers graduating in Paris yesterday, was expected to recommit to upgrading France’s capacity, at a time when NATO allies, who would ordinarily look to the US in a nuclear standoff, worry about Washington’s retreat from the multilateral stage.

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France to spell out post-Brexit nuclear weapons strategy

07 February 2020
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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.

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The Indo-Pacific: a View from France and Australia

19 March 2019
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An interview with Michael Fullilove, Executive Director of the Lowy Institute, by Jean-Dominique Merchet, Defense and Diplomatic Correspondent, L'Opinion.

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Jihadist Prisoners: The Fear of Recidivism

12 July 2018
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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 wife and their children. In November 2000, the family left for Afghanistan, a country then governed by the Taliban.

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Missiles of March: A political means of last resort for Putin

07 March 2018
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President Vladimir Putin’s extra-heavy emphasis on new strategic missile systems in his March 1 address to parliament was quite unexpected and rather out of character. 

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Ifri, a foundation recognized as being of public utility, relies largely on private donors – companies and individuals – to guarantee its sustainability and intellectual independence. Through their funding, donors help maintain the Institute's position among the world's leading think tanks. By benefiting from an internationally recognized network and expertise, donors refine their understanding of geopolitical risk and its consequences on global politics and the economy. In 2024, Ifri will support more than 70 French and foreign companies and organizations.

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Related centers and programs
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European & Transatlantic Security
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The European & Transatlantic Security Program aims to contribute to the strategic debate by developing analyses around three main axes: European defense and the security architecture of the European continent, institutional and strategic links between the Treaty Organization of North Atlantic (NATO) and the European Union (EU), as well as the evolution of the transatlantic relationship.

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Legionnaires patrolling during the sentinel operation in Paris
Internal Security
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The distinction between internal and external threats is often exaggerated, as the borders are so porous. Conflicts taking place thousands of kilometers from France can have tragic resonances on national territory. Radicalization, terrorism and even organized crime have an international dimension that cannot be ignored.

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Nuclear ballistic missile submarine, in transit on the surface
Deterrence and Proliferation
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The conflicts in Europe, Asia and the Middle East demonstrate a return of nuclear power to the balance of power. Arsenals are being modernized and expanded, while arms control is collapsing. This research program aims to analyze these phenomena.

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Group of kamkazza combat drones against the background of sky and clouds, top view, 3d rendering. Concept: war in Ukraine, drone attack.
Observatory on Future Conflicts
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The Observatory of Future Conflicts is a research program carried out by the French Institute of International Relations and the Foundation for Strategic Research on behalf of the three army headquarters aimed at studying developments in tensions and armaments at the horizon 2040 in a transversal perspective, taking into account the issues of each army.

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 A soldier watching a sunset on an armored infantry fighting vehicle
Security Studies Center
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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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French soldiers during an exercise in the forest
Defense Research Unit
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The Defense Research Unit is a program that aims at stimulating the strategic debate by dealing with subjects at the junction of the “technico-operational” and the “political-strategic”. A unique structure in France, it brings together civilian researchers and “military fellows” from each of the three armies to produce work on defense policies, the capability and strategic adaptation of armies, and foresight on tomorrow's conflicts.

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A soldier looking at a map on a laptop
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