Media Interventions

Foreign investors flocked to Myanmar as it began its democratic transition a decade ago, but this week's military coup is likely to accelerate a trend of Western withdrawal -- and China's expansion.

The two countries have been solid partners throughout the Trump era and France is now watching China’s investments closely, both at home and abroad.

Eric André Martin, coordinator of the research initiative on European space governance associating Ifri, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik (DGAP) and Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), presents the European project. The video also looks at China's rise as an international space power. The report was written by researcher Marc Julienne.

With the recent adoption of its defence budget for 2021, the US has further tightened the screw on Nord Stream 2, threatening sanctions on EU companies involved in the Russian-backed pipeline and putting the future of the project further into uncertainty.

In the aftermath of the November elections, Ifri's Program on North America held the 19th edition of its annual conference on the United States.

In this interview, Shin Oya, Senior Consulting Fellow, Asia Pacific Initiative and Chief Representative for Strategic Research, JBIC looks at COVID-19's impact on economic security in Japan.

The European Union’s top drug regulator, whose approval is necessary for countries of the bloc to begin rolling out the coronavirus vaccine, has begun an investigation after it was hit by a cyberattack, the head of the agency said on Thursday.

The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the risks of an excessive dependence on one single economic partner and has prompted a rethinking of what economic security really entails.

The director of Ifri, Thomas Gomart, moderated a high level panel with several foreign affairs ministers during the "Mediterranean Dialogues" conference organized by Italian think tank ISPI.

In this interview, Wongi Choe, head of Center for ASEAN–India Studies at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA) looks at the rationale for and the content of Korea's New Southern Policy.

In this interview, Choong-Ryeol Lee, professor at Korea University looks at the objectives of Korea's New Southern Policy, its economic impact, and Korea's economic cooperation with India.

Audrey Tang, Digital Minister of Taiwan, discussed the impact of technological changes such as 5G, contact tracing and Internet governance in an online debate.

The videoconference "Technology and security: adapting to changing cyber security threats in East Asia," which was part of a webinar series on Technological revolution and Global Order in East Asia was held on November 26, 2020.

A webinar by the Center for Asian Studies on South Korea's New Southern Policy examined the motivations, objectives, and means of, as well as possible challenges to, this policy, through an  analysis of economic and trade cooperation on the one hand (Prosperity) and diplomatic and security cooperation on the other (People and Peace).

Asia’s biggest economy wants to promote fuel cells for trucks. Renewable energy investments should make hydrogen less costly. Tesla Inc.Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has spent years mocking the idea of using hydrogen fuel cells rather than electric batteries to power next-generation green vehicles.

Dorothée Schmid, head of the Middle East program participated in a webinar organized by Italian think tank ISPI and the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center to talk about the current Lebanese government, French and American foreign policy in the country.

The director of Ifri, Thomas Gomart, moderated a panel at the Paris Peace Forum on US foreign policy after the 2020 elections.
 

Ifri is launching a permanent research program on the geopolitics of technologies. Researcher Alice Pannier will lead the program, which will address issues through four angles: power, sovereignty, governance, society.

On October 29,2020, Ifri welcomed Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Foreign Secretary of the Republic of India, for a conference/debate chaired by Thomas Gomart, Director of Ifri.

Ifri, the Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe and Konrad Adenauer Foundation Multilateral Dialogue organized a videoconference called "Trade, Investments, Technology, Climate Change, Human Rights: How should the EU Deal with China? " on October 27, 2020.

The race to fill a role at the heart of world economic policy making is turning into a new battleground for the future of globalization.

Once a political novice, Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is joining Europe's diplomatic big leagues but risks undermining her own cause in the process, experts said.

Cyprus is set to be ‘remade’ in the coming years through €1 billion in grants from the European Recovery Plan, as we’ve reported here, but there are a few issues to be resolved along the way, according to EU policy experts and economists.

[...]

French president’s ‘trust-building’ with Russian leader has failed

The chaos of the event has left allies and rivals alike questioning the state of American democracy and the country’s place on the global stage.

In this interview, Dai Mochinaga, senior researcher at Keio Research Institute looks at Japan's cyber diplomacy and challenges for global cybersecurity and data governance.

In this interview, Mihoko Matsubara, Chief Cybersecurity Strategist, NTT Corporation in Tokyo, examines Japan's cybersecurity responses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Migrants who head to the United Kingdom often see it less as a panacea than a last-ditch means-to-an-end, according to Matthieu Tardis, an expert in migration policy at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI).

The poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny with the Novichok nerve agent has dealt a blow to French President Emmanuel Macron's strategy of rapprochement with Russia, which troubled some EU allies, analysts say.

Looking back on the last few weeks, a famous quote by Goethe (from his report on the siege of Mainz in 1793) came to mind: “Better to commit an injustice than to countenance disorder.” In other words, disorder engenders more injustice than it eradicates.

Evidence that the Russian opposition leader was attacked with a military-grade nerve agent has placed new pressures on the German chancellor.

Since taking in more than a million people fleeing war and poverty in 2015, Europe has stepped up border controls but still falls short on common migration and asylum policies.

Governments across the globe are increasingly focusing on the benefits of sustainable energy and Qatar is no different. As part of its national vision, the country is working to create harmony between environmental protection and economic growth.

Competing claims have left Ankara isolated. Its efforts to stall projects threaten billions of dollars in investment. Europe’s top diplomat smiled for the camera as he took a helicopter flight over the disputed waters of the island of Cyprus at the end of June.

Thierry de Montbrial, Ifri's executive chairman, et Françoise Nicolas, director of Ifri's Center for Asian Studies, talked about the global order in a post-COVID-19 world at a videoconference on July 15th ahead of the World Knowledge Forum organized by Maeil Business Newspaper.

Both in the US and in Europe, border control has become one central component of immigration and asylum policies with seemingly the same objective: preventing irregular entries of migrants and refugees. This trend has accelerated in recent years, with ever stricter border controls, more detention of migrants and refugees, the use of the notion of “safe third country” and partnerships with third countries, some of which now play a pivotal role in controlling the borders of their US and European neighbors, such as Turkey and Mexico.

What are the differences and similarities in the policies implemented in the EU and the US? What is their impact on the fundamental rights of migrants and refugees? In both contexts, what relative weight is given to the rights of migrants and refugees on the one hand, and to border enforcement measures on the other? Finally, what long-term consequences will the COVID-19 crisis have on border policies in both cases?

The European Union’s chief antitrust official, Margrethe Vestager, has made her name tackling big corporate fish in pretty unconventional ways. A ruling on Alphabet Inc.’s Google, which came with a seven-figure fine, argued free services weren’t always good for the consumer, while those on Apple Inc. and Starbucks Corp. deemed that low taxes were illegal state aid (though some judges begged to differ).

Slovakia's Foreign and European Afffairs Minister Ivan Korčok spoke in a webinar organized by Ifri, the GLOBSEC Policy Institute, the Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe, and the School of Transnational Governance European University Institute (EUI) on June 16, 2020. He discussed the post-COVID-19 challenges to the European Union as seen from Slovakia, in particular the EU recovery package, MFF negotiations, the EU’s role in safeguarding multilateralism and in playing a bigger role on the world stage.