The end of the Cold War has transformed the distribution of power and complexified both the stakes and the forms of conflicts. The attacks of 9/11 have again transformed our comprehension of international conflict, imposing a new security perspective focused on terrorism and the proliferation of destabilizing weapons. The new demands placed on security strategies remain difficult to define, and make a compelling case for the development of prospective thinking and analysis as a hallmark of Ifri’s work.

Ifri’s Security Studies Center therefore focuses on three main research programs. The first program tries to follow the main trends of the international system: balance and imbalance in the distribution of power, the stakes and forms of future conflicts, crisis management and exit strategies. Secondly, the Center monitors the evolution of the force structures and strategies of the principal defense establishments, in their efforts to transform and adapt themselves to the new international system. Finally, the proliferation of armaments, and of weapons of mass destruction in particular, make up the third major theme. Keeping up with the mutations of security and defense strategies, in all their dimensions, is all the more necessary that the current international context is fluid and largely unpredictable.