Security - Defense
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
“Don’t Bank on the Bombs” New European Standards Affecting the Defense Industry
While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, has underlined the need to upgrade the European armed forces, the urgency of the fight against climate change—as illustrated by reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)—requires the political mobilization of the European Union (EU) to carry out the transition to climate neutrality.
The historical heritage of AUKUS: Australia-United States-United Kingdom relations since 1900
The signing of the AUKUS partnership agreement between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom in September 2021 seems to have reconstituted a natural coalition between “Anglo-Saxon” states. This solidarity generates contradictory judgments.
Modernizing the People's Liberation Army: The Human Factor
The tremendous demographic challenges facing China will not significantly affect the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in the immediate future, but will become more problematic in the medium and long term. The rapid aging of the population and the resulting socio-economic imbalances will put pressure on defense budgets, military wages and the general attractiveness of the army. For the time being, the PLA’s primary goal in terms of human resources is to build a less oversized, more professional army, prepared for high-intensity combat.
French Navy bets on electronic warfare to counter anti-ship threats
With 2,000 miles of direct coastline and more than a dozen overseas territories, France’s naval vessels maintain a continuous presence in multiple maritime zones — from the North Sea to the Caribbean, and from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific.
Asia after the War in Ukraine: Re-imagining multilateralism and the risk of high-intensity conflict (video replay)
Annual conference of Ifri's Center for Asian Studies. The war in Ukraine has marked the return of high-intensity conflict in Europe and represents a profound, structural shift in the region’s strategic environment. It also takes place against a backdrop of a decades-long rebalancing of global power and the increase of strategic competition between the United States and China, in particular.
Interview with David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee
Can you describe the humanitarian impact of the war in Ukraine, in Europe, including with regards to displacement, and beyond the outside of Europe?
France and AUKUS: A Necessary Reconciliation
One year on, the announcement of the Australia-U.K.-U.S alliance has not been accompanied by any major changes to France’s Indo-Pacific defense strategy.
RAMSES 2023. Europe at War
For its 41st edition, RAMSES 2023. Europe at War, written by Ifri's research team and external experts, offers an in-depth and up-to-date analysis of geopolitics in today’s world.
German Defense Policy: A Historic Turning Point?
The war in Ukraine has been a rude awakening for Berlin.
Germany, the “Zeitenwende” and the Future of NATO
La Sentinelle égarée ? L’armée de Terre face au terrorisme
The 2015 terror attacks in France and the ensuing activation by the Ministry of Defense of its homeland protection plan opened a new phase in the long history of the French Army’s involvement in internal security.
The Return of Geopolitical Risk - Russia, China and the United States
The year 2014 was defined by the conflict in Ukraine, the emergence of Daesh, and tensions between China and Japan. As for 2015, it has witnessed the spread of Daesh, the conflict in Yemen, the Greek crisis, revelations about the activity of the National Security Agency (NSA), the migrant crisis, and a ramping-up of terrorist attacks.
European Defence: Minilateralism is not the enemy
To access the whole publication, please click on this link.
Hybrid Warfare in the Strategic Spectrum: an Historical Assessment
"Hybrid Warfare" is a fashionable concept, but in order fo it to be really relevant, it has to be visualized within the whole strategic spectrum.
Activists Without Borders
Various associations organise trips to Israel and/or to the Palestinian Territories. Someone who has no previous knowledge of the Near East and who takes part in a journey organised by a pro-Israeli group, would return to France with a very different vision of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to that of someone who had travelled with a pro-Palestinian group.
For more information concerning the complete work, please click on this link.
The Challenges of Maintaining Nuclear Cultures : US and UK perspectives
After the world entered the nuclear age, civilian and military organizations have witnessed the slow emergence of nuclear cultures, defined as the set of values and knowledge, shared among the national security community, about the relative importance of nuclear weapons in the country’s defense posture, the distinctive features of nuclear weapons in terms of security, safety and operational requirements, and the workings of deterrence.
War’s Indirection or the Return of the Limited War
Over the last few years both the United States and Russia seem to have changed their conception of how to deploy force.
Cross-Domain Coercion: The Current Russian Art of Strategy
This paper traces the evolution of Russian views on the art of coercion, and on the role of nuclear weapons in it, from the post-Cold War “regional nuclear deterrence” thinking to the current “Gerasimov Doctrine”.
Deploying the Bundeswehr: more transparency, more flexibility, but Parliament’s consent remains key - The Rühe Commission’s final report
Besides the often invoked historical dimension behind Germany’s strategic culture of restraint, there are today very tangible legal reasons that prevent assertive German military interventionism (which are, of course, directly linked to the historical dimension): any intervention of the German armed forces requires the Bundestag’s consent.
Conventionalizing Deterrence? U.S. Prompt Strike Programs and Their Limits
About a decade ago, the U.S. started to examine options to develop and acquire Conventional Prompt Global Strike capabilities. This move fits in an effort to conventionalize deterrence, an effort initiated decades before and undertaken for profound and diverse motives. Although it has been renewed under the Obama administration, which aims to reduce the U.S. reliance on nuclear weapons, this ambition has resulted in very little concrete progress.
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