Missions of Ifri

Ifri, a Leading French Think Tank on International Questions

Founded (1979) and chaired by Thierry de Montbrial, Ifri is the leading independent research and debate institution in France dedicated to the analysis of international issues and global governance. Its director is Thomas Gomart.

Over the past 44 years, Ifri has become a reference on a worldwide scale, recognized by its peers.

The institute brings together a multi-national team of fifty collaborators including about thirty permanent professional researchers divided into 11 research units with:

• regional focus: Europe/Franco-German relations, Russia / Eurasia, Asia, North America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Turkey / Middle East
   
• focusing on cross-cutting issues: Security and Strategic Affairs, Energy and Climate, Geopolitics of Technology, Space.

Ifri’s policy-oriented research strives to shed light on international events and put them in perspective. It is primarily useful for political and economic decision-makers as well as academics, opinion leaders, and civil society representatives.

Research: Analyze and Foresee

Ifri’s activities favor analysis and foresight concerning European and international affairs, and adopt a multidisciplinary approach that takes local, national and global perspectives into consideration.

Ifri’s research and debates are reflected in the institute’s various digital collections as well as in top publications such as the quarterly journal Politique étrangère and the annual report RAMSES.

 

Ifri’s research is available in French, English, German and Russian. In 2022, Ifri experts published more than 130 digital policy papers and reports.

 

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the interdependent relationships, and therefore the dependencies of the international system. This period of strong instability invites a fundamental reflection on the international positioning of France as well as on the nature of post-Covid globalization.

A new intellectual agenda has been launched, based on a transversal approach to framing and guiding future research as we approach 2022-2023.

From an analysis and forecasting perspective, Ifri designs its research and expertise work to aid public and private decision-making. It also seeks to shed light on hidden issues and identify “black swans”. This approach is manifested through three main types of tools:

• analysis of the geo³: geostrategic, geopolitical and geo-economic. With the Covid-19 crisis, Ifri is particularly focused on developing the latter.
• identification of opportunities to use political capital.
• management of interdependence through analysis of relations between economies and power, states and markets, and states, societies, and individuals.

Furthermore, in 2022-2023, Ifri is structuring is research around 3 pillars:

• Power hierarchies
• Critical issues of globalization
• The trajectory of the EU and France

Dissemination and Reach

The website www.ifri.org is the first platform through which Ifri’s debates, work and studies are disseminated. The website had more than 1M visits in 2022.

Ifri is very prominent in the media: Ifri has been featured and mentionned in more than 70 articles and interviews, 700 television and radio shows and about 5,500 quotes in French and foreign press.

Ifri is very active on Facebook with more than 108,000 followers, on Twitter - with 43,000 followers, on LinkedIn - with more than 72,000 followers,  13,000 followers on Youtube and more than 3,100 followers on Instagram.

Debates: Structuring and Informing

Ifri’s research is fueled by debates organized in an informal and non-partisan way, that facilitates the bringing-together of experts and decision-makers, private and public alike.

Each year, Ifri organizes more than 130 conferences and debates in Paris and abroad, about 10 international events, as well as numerous workshops and seminars. Ifri welcomes each year more than 100 high-level guests, among them heads of state and government official.

 

In 2022, Ifri transformed its legal status into a public utility foundation in order to consolidate its independence and guarantee its sustainability. After having been approved by all its governance bodies and following a favorable opinion from the Council of State, the decree noting the transformation was published in the Official Journal on November 18, 2022.

At the same time, a Société des Amis de l'Ifri was created to ensure the continuity of the associative life to which Ifri is attached.

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