Search on Ifri.org

About Ifri

Frequent searches

Suggestions

Security - Defense

Description

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

Image Taxonomie
 A soldier looking at a map on a laptop.
See all
Publications
Image principale

Zeitenwende: The Bundeswehr’s Paradigm Shift

Date de publication
29 September 2023
Accroche

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, marked a turning point in German defense policy. After thirty years of military downsizing, the Bundeswehr found itself at an extremely low capability level just as a high-intensity war involving a great power was breaking out on Europe’s doorstep for the first time since 1945. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s response was to embrace this “turning point” (Zeitenwende) by launching a major program to reequip Germany’s armed forces.

European Union: A Geopolitical Illusion?

Date de publication
12 September 2023
Accroche

The European Union (EU) is holding firm in the face of the war in Ukraine—perhaps better than expected. But what long-term effects will the war have on European institutions and policies? The institutions will need to be changed to cope with the forthcoming expansions. The EU has certainly made progress toward common industrial and technological policies. But will this dynamic do away with a conception of strategic autonomy, encompassing both diplomacy and strategy? The European Union, which will undoubtedly be a key mover of future changes for the continent, remains largely uncertain in terms of its future configurations.

Image principale

The Wind Rose’s Directions: Russia’s Strategic Deterrence during the First Year of the War in Ukraine

Date de publication
28 August 2023
Accroche
Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine, and even before February 2022, the Russian government has conducted intense nuclear rhetoric and actions.
Image principale

High-Intensity Warfare: What Challenges for the French Armed Forces?

Date de publication
12 July 2023
Accroche

The new French Military Programming Law for 2024-2030 resolutely commits the French armed forces to the path of high intensity. However, this term continues to be the subject of debate and confusion within the defense community. 

Image principale

Strategic Signaling: A Lever for France in the Competition Between Powers?

Date de publication
16 May 2023
Accroche

From the joint and combined Orion 2023 exercice to the deployment of Leclerc tanks in Romania, through the qualification fire of new missiles, the French armed forces conduct many manoeuvres and activities that are now described as falling under the "strategic signaling".

Image principale

TB2 Bayraktar: Big Strategy for a Little Drone

Date de publication
17 April 2023
Accroche

Since 2016, the tactical drone TB2 Bayraktar—“standard bearer” in Turkish—has received considerable media attention, particularly during the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020. Thanks to Azerbaijan’s victory over its neighbor Armenia, the drone, manufactured by Baykar, is now a proven combat system with increasing numbers of export clients.

Image principale

Imagining Beyond the Imaginary. The Use of Red Teaming and Serious Games in Anticipation and Foresight

Date de publication
30 March 2023
Accroche

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.

Image principale

Rebooting the Entente: An Agenda for Renewed UK-France Defense Cooperation

Date de publication
22 February 2023
Accroche

The Franco-British Summit on March 10th, 2023, will mark a much-needed reset in bilateral cooperation, following years of strained relations. With a recently re-elected French president and a new British Prime minister, both sides are committed to making this summit a success and re-launching a positive agenda for bilateral cooperation. The summit, the first since Sandhurst in 2018, will focus on three key topics: migration, energy, and foreign policy. Defense cooperation will also be addressed, as it remains the cornerstone of the bilateral relationship, though it may take a less prominent part than on previous occasions.

Image principale

Naval Combat Redux: A Renewed Challenge for Western Navies

Date de publication
09 January 2023
Accroche

Our world is becoming increasingly contested and unpredictable and we are trending towards a return of great power strategic competition, characterized by more frequent challenges to the established rules-based international order. As a consequence, the risk of interstate conflict continues to rise. This regressive evolution is most readily apparent in the maritime domain, where the concomitant impacts on the free flow of international trade and the control of illegal and unregulated fishing are interlaced with the prescient, yet growing challenge of environmental security. 

Image principale

Self-defense Groups, the Pyromaniac Firefighters of Sahel

Date de publication
14 December 2022
Accroche

Since 2012, the proliferation of jihadist groups across the Sahel has monopolized the attention of the authorities.forced by the threats they represent and the weakening of their regal power, states are gradually withdrawing from their peripheral rural territories. As a result, populations have organized themselves to become local security providers.

Intelligence and Nuclear Proliferation: Lessons Learned

Date de publication
20 September 2011
Accroche

Intelligence agencies play a fundamental role in the prevention of nuclear proliferation, as they help to understand other countries' intentions and assess their technical capabilities and the nature of their nuclear activities.

Toward the End of Force Projection? I. The Anti-Access Threat

Date de publication
13 July 2011
Accroche

Force projection has become a general posture and a fundamental dimension of the influence Western powers intend to exert over the world by means of their armed forces.

Russia's Nuclear Forces: Between Disarmament and Modernization

Date de publication
14 June 2011
Accroche

Nuclear weapons have traditionally occupied an important place in Russia’s national security strategy. As Russia and the United States have been reducing their nuclear arsenals since the end of the Cold War, their relationship has undergone a complex transformation. Russia, however, still considers strategic balance with the United States to be an important element of national security.

Economic Constraint and Ukraine's Security Policy

Date de publication
27 May 2011
Accroche

Since winning the 2010 presidential elections in Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych has worked hard to repair Kyiv's relationship with Moscow.

Protecting Nuclear Installations: The difference between industrial safety and national security

Date de publication
27 May 2011
Accroche

There is a gritty public debate going on in Europe about what threats should be considered in conducting stress tests on existing nuclear power plants or in establishing safety criteria for new build nuclear power. 

Strategic Stability in the Cold War: Lessons for Continuing Challenges

Date de publication
13 February 2011
Accroche

During the Cold War, the phrase “strategic stability” gained currency both as a foreign policy objective and as an apt way of describing the fact that the United States and the Soviet Union never actually went to war.

Caveats to Civilian Aid Programs in Counterinsurgency: The French Experience in Afghanistan

Date de publication
30 December 2010
Accroche

Amaury de Féligonde has just spent one year in Kapisa and Surobi as a project manager within the Afghan-Pakistan Interministerial Unit. Back in France, he expresses his personal views and draws conclusions from his experience.

France's Return into NATO: French Military Culture and Strategic Identity in Question

Date de publication
11 October 2010
Accroche

More than 40 years after the unilateral decision by General de Gaulle to withdraw French forces from NATO's integrated military command, President Sarkozy decided that France would reintegrate the Atlantic Alliance’s military structure, based on "full and complete participation". The decision was endorsed by Parliament and has generated little debate in France, while a majority of French people appear to approve of it.

Evolution of the Australia-Japan Security Partnership: Toward a Softer Triangle Alliance with the United States?

Date de publication
01 October 2010
Accroche

This paper examines how and why the Australia-Japan defense and security partnership has evolved, what policy implications this new partnership has for the U.S.-Japan alliance system, and what constraints the further advancement of trilateral security cooperation faces.

Potential Strategic Consequences of the Nuclear Energy Revival

Date de publication
08 July 2010
Accroche

Renewed interest throughout the globe in harnessing nuclear energy has raised concern about security threats from states and non-state actors while holding out the promise of more electricity for more people.

Support independent French research

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.

Ramses Conference, 2024
Related centers and programs
Image principale
T-72B3 battle tank, NATO
European & Transatlantic Security
Accroche centre

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.

Image principale
Legionnaires patrolling during the sentinel operation in Paris
Internal Security
Accroche centre

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.

Image principale
Nuclear ballistic missile submarine, in transit on the surface
Deterrence and Proliferation
Accroche centre

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.

View more
Image principale
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
Accroche centre

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.

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
French soldiers during an exercise in the forest
Defense Research Unit
Accroche centre

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.

Page image credits
A soldier looking at a map on a laptop
(c) Shutterstock