Chinese power continues to grow both militarily and economically: its disputed territorial gains in the South China Sea are complemented by its extensive investment initiative in the New Silk Roads through the Eurasian continent.

Over the past few years, a debate on possible scenarios of limited nuclear weapons use has surfaced again in the United States. Russian nuclear saber-rattling since 2014 and the growing tensions in the Korean peninsula have led Washington to reassess its own ability to deter, or respond to, such a limited use of nuclear weapons.

In today’s world, diaspora management and diplomacy have become increasingly enmeshed, reflecting the growing interconnections between domestic and international issues.

In the week following Trump’s election, Ifri published a study to identify the likely changes in U.S. foreign policy. From the outset, this election appeared as a change in the U.S.’ trajectory, with consequences on the power relations and functioning of the international system.

According to realist premises, the United States has an interest in remaining the world's only superpower, thus creating the need to manage and maintain unipolarity. The pursuit of this grand strategy, however, required the U.S. to adapt its various strategies to individual states. Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus have played very different roles.

This book explores Muslim women’s political and civic engagement in Britain and France.

By reinforcing hostility between Russia and the West, the Ukraine crisis has shone a spotlight on the limits and contradictions of any Russo-Japanese rapprochement. Russia has grown more dependent on China, just as Japan has become more reliant on the United States.

The aim of this paper is to assess how an African country deals on the long run with the decline of international aid and foreign direct investment. This paper is a contribution to the debate about the effectiveness of the international sanctions system.

Along with Syria and Libya, Yemen is the third Arab country experiencing civil/international war, with the same consequences for diplomatic activity: because of the closure of embassies in situ and the security situation, states have had to develop a “nomadic” policy of contacts in third countries with their counterparts, according to their places of exile, which the following article designates in terms of Yemen as a test in “map-making.” 

The article discusses Russia’s cultural diplomacy understandings in the post-Soviet era, as implemented since the mid-2000’s. 

Turkish President Erdoğan demanding blood tests for German MPs with Turkish origin or Nazi comparisons coming from Ankara: German-Turkish relations have reached rock bottom and bonds of trust between both countries are almost completely disrupted. 

The study and comparison of different National Oil Companies (NOC) help understanding the political history of Algeria, Nigeria and Angola. The NOC’s role and activities depend on several economic and political aspects. For example, Angolan Sonangol has been the coffer for the Popular Movement of Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party to fund its struggle against the National Union for the Independence of Angola (UNITA) party during civil war. 

As Democratic Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) continuous development of non-conventional weapons and challenges of the international community reaches a new level, Republic of Korea (ROK) appears more than ever as the frontline state on which most of North-East Asia security depends.

Benjamin Haddad, research fellow at Hudson Institute in Washington D.C., reviews Wess Mitchell’s nomination for Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs. According to Haddad, as U.S. President Donald Trump struggles to appoint leaders to his administration, Wess Mitchell, who awaits the U.S. Senate’s confirmation, could be a wise choice.

Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, is driven by fascinating urban dynamics. The country’s institutional setting is influenced by the legacies of the different political regimes of the last 50 years, which have left visible traces on the urban fabric.

RAMSES 2018. Will the Information War Take Place?, written by Ifri's research team and external experts, offers an in-depth and up-to-date analysis of global geopolitics.

On the eve of the Vladivostok Summit, should we expect any significant progress in the laborious rapprochement between Japan and Russia?

Angela Merkel is gaining thanks to her international standing and the weakness of her Social-Democrat opponent.

Over the course of the next few years, France will have to renew its nuclear arsenal to ensure that it remains a credible dissuasion in the eyes of its potential enemies.

The African National Congress (ANC), which has governed South Africa since the end of apartheid, is in decline.

Two strategic regions are at the focus of this back-to-school issue of Politique étrangère.

This study addresses the resilience factors of the American production of light tight oil, in particular regarding the evolution of the financial model, and the regulatory changes with the authorisation of exports for crude oil. The paper also evaluates the development perspectives of the production on the medium and long term.

If some African countries are on their way to achieving dynamic economic growth, many are also still struggling with a lack of economic and social infrastructure, latent governance issues and often complex and risky security environments. In this context, both Japan and European countries, especially France, are making efforts to increase not only their development assistance, but also private investments and security cooperation in Sub-Saharan Africa.

What is the political significance of Southern Africa’s “hashtag movements”, socio-political campaigns using social media to disseminate information and to mobilise concerned and previously quiet segments of the public? 

As the prospect of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union raises increasing challenges to its international position, as well as major divisions at home, the future of British defense policy seems more uncertain than ever. 

Nordic countries share the same perception, that Russia does not pose an immediate threat but that its actions nevertheless remain worrying. 

This paper examines how the large Russian-speaking population outside Russia has been ideologically constructed and politically instrumentalized by the Kremlin’s leadership.

The number of crises we face is rising, due to failing states, wars and armed conflicts, poverty and lack of good governance in many countries. State and society are constantly confronted with new challenges. These crises occur simultaneously and at an ever faster pace. 

The offensive on Mosul against Islamic State crystallises all of the political, social and security issues which determine the future of the Iraqi state.

The aim of this report is to describe and explain how structural changes have affected three generations of jihadists in Iraqi Kurdistan: The Jihadi generation of the 1980s, that of Ansar al-Islam in the 2000s and that of the Kurds of Islamic State (ISIS) or Daesh in the 2010s.

This study weighs up the different strategic approaches that Europe may adopt in the industrial race for electrical batteries, taking into account the demand potential for e-mobility and stationary storage, the global competitive landscape and the policy support for local players in Asia and the U.S.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) brings a dimensional shift in the two countries' relations at a time of significant geopolitical change. But while it promises wide-ranging benefits for infrastructure development and economic growth in Pakistan, a number of important challenges remain to be overcome if the project is to be sustainable and produce long-term benefits for Pakistanis.

The study analyses the European rules designed to promote renewable energy, highlighting their innovations and the difficulties they will raise. The study highlights the consequences of some of the measures envisaged and pays particular attention to the electricity market.

Sino-Belarusian relations are characterized by a gap between the quality and depth of the countries’ political partnership on the one hand, and the more limited economic reality of bilateral cooperation on the other.

By organising TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Development) for the first time in Africa in August 2016, Japan intended to accelerate and deepen its relationship with the continent. 

The decision of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to welcome over one million refugees in the years 2015 and 2016 had been interpreted by some to be a strategic choice to cope with the demographic problems that Germany is facing: the expected decline in the population, especially in its work force, as well an ageing population. 

What makes you middle class? Is it your income, occupation, or education? Your family background or maybe the house and neighbourhood you live in? It is probably all of these things. 

In its fifty-year existence, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has developed a complex, progressive and balanced approach to regional integration. Rather than the European Union’s far-reaching statements of ever-closer union, ASEAN combines highly diverse economic and political strategies of different States whose main priority is to safeguard sovereignty.

When it was created 50 years ago, ASEAN's (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) economic ambitions were rather modest. However, up until 1992 it progressively integrated the economies of its member states.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) strives to deal with security problems in an inclusive and flexible way. In 2003 it established a Security Community which has since expanded through several institutions and partnerships.