Security - Defense
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.
Related Subjects
Design, Destroy, Dominate. The Mass Drone Warfare as a Potential Military Revolution
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.
The China-Russia Partnership and the Ukraine War: Aligned but not allied
China and Russia maintain a strategic partnership rooted in shared opposition to the U.S. and liberal democracies, but their relationship is shaped more by pragmatism than trust.
The United Nations Mission in Congo or the exemplary uselessness of the United Nations peacekeepers
During the M23 conflict in 2012-2013 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the United Nations (UN) took the diplomatic initiative (by initiating the Addis Ababa agreement) and the military initiative (by launching a coordinated counter-offensive with the Congolese army). Since the resurgence of this conflict in 2022, the United Nations, which still has more than 10,000 peacekeepers deployed in eastern DRC, no longer plays any role.
Replay - Paris Naval Conference 2025: Naval Power in support of Maritime Economy
Replay of the third edition of the Paris Naval Conference (CNP), bringing together high-level speakers from the military, industry and academia, for the aim of addressing the issues of securing the maritime economy for the world's navies.
Naval Power in Support of Maritime Economy: An Interview with Vice-Admiral Jeffrey Anderson (U.S. Navy)
On the sidelines of the Paris Naval Conference 2025, on February 4, 2025, organized by Ifri and the French Navy, Vice-Admiral Jeffrey Anderson, Commander of the 6th Fleet, U.S. Navy, and Commander of the Striking and Support Forces NATO, share insights on the crucial role that naval power plays in support of maritime economy.
Naval Power and Maritime Economy: an interview with Admiral Nicolas Vaujour (Chief of Staff of the French Navy)
On the sidelines of the Paris Naval Conference 2025, on February 4, 2025, organized by Ifri and the French Navy (Marine nationale), Admiral Nicolas Vaujour, Chief of Staff of the French Navy share insights on the crucial role that naval power plays in support of maritime economy.
Naval Power and Maritime Economy: an interview with Admiral Sir Ben Key, First Sea Lord, Royal Navy
On the sidelines of the Paris Naval Conference 2025, on February 4, 2025, organized by Ifri and the French Navy (Marine nationale), Admiral Sir Ben Key, First Sea Lord, Royal Navy, shares insights on the crucial role that naval power plays in support of maritime economy.
Naval Power and Maritime Economy: Rear Admiral Søren Kjeldsen, Chief of the Royal Danish Navy
On the sidelines of the Paris Naval Conference 2025, on February 4, 2025, organized by Ifri and the French Navy (Marine nationale), Rear Admiral Søren Kjeldsen, Chief of the Royal Danish Navy, shares insights on the crucial role that naval power plays in support of maritime economy.
Naval Power and Maritime Economy: Rear Admiral Olivier Berdal, Chief of the Royal Norwegian Navy
On the sidelines of the Paris Naval Conference 2025, on February 4, 2025, organized by Ifri and the French Navy (Marine nationale), Rear Admiral Olivier Berdal, Chief of the Royal Norwegian Navy, shares insights on the crucial role that naval power plays in support of maritime economy.
How do maritime companies cooperate with the navies? An interview with Simon Bergulf, MÆRSK
On the sidelines of the Paris Naval Conference 2025, on February 4, 2025, organized by Ifri and the French Navy (Marine nationale), Simon BERGULF, Group Representative Europe Public and Regulatory Affairs, Head of Energy transition and Operations, Maersk, shares insights on how maritime companies collaborate with the navies to secure maritime economy.
How do maritime companies cooperate with the navies? An interview with Evan FUERY, EQUINOR
On the sidelines of the Paris Naval Conference 2025, on February 4, 2025, organized by Ifri and the French Navy (Marine nationale), Evan FUERY, Senior Vice-President for Corporate Security and Crisis Management, EQUINOR, shares insights on how maritime companies collaborate with the navies to secure maritime economy.
Imagining Beyond the Imaginary. The Use of Red Teaming and Serious Games in Anticipation and Foresight
The Red Team Defence demonstrates the Ministry of the Armed Forces' desire to appropriate new foresight tools. Thus, brain games or serious games aim to bypass the weight of the military hierarchy, the standardisation of thoughts and cognitive biases in order to avoid strategic unthinking.
Military Stockpiles: A Life-Insurance Policy in a High-Intensity Conflict?
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.
Chinese Nuclear Force Modernization and Doctrinal Change
Dating back to the first test in 1964, the Chinese nuclear force modernization process is motivated by other nuclear powers’ modernization across the years, mostly from the United States and the Soviet Union, but also by domestic factors such as economic debates and tensions in the scientific community.
Deus ex machina : les enjeux de l’autonomisation des systèmes d’armes
While the automatization of machines is part of an already long historical, conceptual, and technical trajectory, the exponential progress of artificial intelligence techniques, robotics and their military applications suggest the emergence of systems that integrate more autonomy. Indeed, despite campaigns calling for a moratorium on autonomous weapons, most military powers are developing programs focused on autonomy.
La paix par la force. La modernisation de la défense sud-coréenne sous la présidence Moon Jae-in
South Korea's defense modernization plan, Defense Reform 2.0, represents a significant effort in terms of military capabilities since 2018. The outgoing president, Moon Jae-in, has placed particular emphasis on high-tech acquisition as well as transforming the Korean defense industrial and technological base into a major domestic and international supplier.
Arctic: Toward the End of the Exception? Strategic, Nuclear and Maritime Issues in the Region
Through multiple international initiatives, including the creation of the Arctic Council at the end of the Cold War in 1996, the Arctic appears to be one of the last areas of peaceful cooperation in the world. This “Arctic exception” is also devoid of any serious territorial dispute between the neighboring countries, some of which are nevertheless great powers: Russia, the United States, Canada, but also Sweden, Norway, Denmark (via Greenland), Iceland and Finland.
Rwanda’s Military Diplomacy. Kigali’s Political Use of the Military Means to Increase Prestige and Influence in Africa and Beyond
Although it is one of the smallest states on the African continent, Rwanda has adopted a proactive foreign policy. Kigali has deployed troops within the framework of multilateral peacekeeping missions to increase its prestige and influence. Since last year, changes have arisen: Rwanda has extended its activities outside of multilateral operations, intervening unilaterally in the Central African Republic (CAR) and then in Mozambique. Rwanda desires to foster its reputation as a regional and continental “security provider”.
Le cloud défense : défi opérationnel, impératif stratégique et enjeu de souveraineté
Cloud computing – or data management – is considered as one of the pillars of the digital transformation of the French Ministry of the Armed Forces.
Moving Towards the End of 20 Years of War on Terror?
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.
Hypersonic Weapons: What Are the Challenges for the Armed Forces?
Hypersonic systems are becoming attributes of power for the states that design and implement them, at the risk of reviving an arms race.
France to spell out post-Brexit nuclear weapons strategy
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.
Jihadist Prisoners: The Fear of Recidivism
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.
Missiles of March: A political means of last resort for Putin
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.
Menace islamiste, loi martiale, ... que se passe-t-il aux Philippines?
Philippines' President wants to limit islamist groups' capacity after several attacks in the South of the country.
At the 2016 Xiangshan Forum, China Outlines a Vision for Regional Security Governance
Beijing has a plan for a new regional security architecture, and it’s not based around alliances.
France wants to feel safe – whatever it takes. But what if it takes too much?
Opinion column published in "The Globe and Mail"
In France, are soldiers outside the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre really worth it?
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 from unified on the value of an operation often seen as a costly and superficial means of reassuring civilians and tourists at the expense of substantive improvement to national security.
NATO wrestles with internal divisions ahead of Warsaw summit
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 financial commitments to the alliance.
Chinese missile crisis? Escalation over disputed China Sea islands
Reports have emerged that China has set up a missile launch base on Woody Island, part of an archipelago disputed with Taiwan and Vietnam. This comes just as the US President was wrapping up an ASEAN summit to strengthen ties after the recent Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. How will this shape policy not only among Washington's traditional allies in the region but also in countries like Vietnam? Once again, a war-weary US is being called upon and has to look at the broader picture.
China quiere aumentar su protagonismo en Oriente Próximo
Después de haber rehuido durante años implicarse en una región que considera un avispero, China quiere finalmente mostrarse como un participante más activo en Oriente Medio. La visita que el presidente chino, Xi Jinping, comienza este martes a Arabia Saudí, Irán y Egipto señala la creciente importancia que Pekín concede a la zona, tanto desde el punto de vista económico como de seguridad, y representa un paso más en su estrategia para presentarse como una alternativa al modelo estadounidense de potencia mundial.
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Related centers and programs
European & Transatlantic Security
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.
Internal Security
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.
Deterrence and Proliferation
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.
Observatory on Future Conflicts
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.
Security Studies Center
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.
Defense Research Unit
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.