International security
International securityThrough its actions (bilateral or multilateral diplomacy, arms control, promotion of collective security mechanisms), it can guarantee protection against these threats to national defence and security.
11 September: the geopolitical lessons, 22 years on
More than the al-Qaeda attacks, it is the reaction of the United States that constitutes a strategic shift, analyse two IRSEM researchers, Maud Quessard and Élie Baranets.
Eric Frécon: "In the face of piracy, France has a unique model".
The Gulf of Guinea and the Gulf of Aden, Latin America, South-East Asia... The Singapore-based French researcher traces the latest developments in piracy, against which the international fight has intensified since 2000.
External operations: when France puts itself at the service of the UN
Since 1956, the United Nations has regularly launched peacekeeping operations around the world. Here is a look back at three emblematic operations in which French soldiers gave their lives under the UN banner.
Russia's presence in Africa: a two-pronged strategy
On the occasion of the 23rd IHEDN Forum on the African continent, researchers and specialists decipher the Russian influence strategy on the continent: a well-coordinated waltz between government players and private entities such as Wagner.
DEFENCE AND NATIONAL SECURITY, WHAT IS IT? The vocation of IHEDN
How can we define this fundamental concept that the IHEDN is tasked with studying? Lieutenant General Benoît Durieux proposes to draw its perimeter using four concentric circles.
Very high altitude, an area of innovation awaiting regulation
(Re)discovered by the general public since the neutralisation of the "Chinese balloons", this zone between air and space opens up immense prospects and raises many questions, which the French Air Force and Space Agency addressed at a symposium packed with information.
CDT Alexandre: "At very high altitude, we're going to see the emergence of competition and contestation.
The issue of "very high altitude" came back into the spotlight with the neutralisation of "Chinese balloons" in American airspace in February. Major Alexandre, head of the aerospace power division at the French Air Force's Centre for Strategic Aerospace Studies (CESA), explains what is at stake in this area, which has become a hotbed of confrontation.
European defence finally on track
After long decades of construction, recent years have seen the Union's defence and security policy get off the ground in a number of areas, notably on the maritime front, which IHEDN auditors are studying this week.
Ludovic Schultz: "The agreement reached at the United Nations on 4 March is doubly historic.
After 15 years of discussions and negotiations, the Member States of the United Nations have agreed on an International Treaty for the Protection of the High Seas. Ludovic Schultz, an auditor at the IHEDN and recently appointed Director of the Écrins National Park, was involved in drafting the treaty for many years, first as deputy director at the Ministry for Ecological Transition and then as adviser to the Secretary General for the Sea. He sheds some light on this historic agreement.
High seas: behind the international treaty,
a national defence strategy
The UN has just announced a "historic" agreement on biodiversity on the high seas. This is an opportunity to take stock of an increasingly contested area, and France's strategy for defending its maritime zones.
Not far from Ukraine, the other European issue in the Balkans
To mark the 3e International session on the Balkans and South-East Europe (SIB), focusing on this border region that has long been affected by conflict and is increasingly integrated into the EU.
GBR Ortemann: "I never wanted to be dictated to.
Men are no more predisposed than women to take an interest in defence and national security issues. To mark International Women's Day on 8 March, Brigadier General Anne-Cécile Ortemann answered our questions.
War in Ukraine: a year of strategic lessons
A number of specialists gave an initial assessment of the conflict at a conference at the École Militaire. Strategy, land, cyber, space, NATO... a selection of their analyses of the return of high-intensity warfare to Europe.
At a time of war in Ukraine, can we still speak of a "Franco-German couple"?
To avoid the possibility of the end of the Franco-German relationship, the French and Germans must not take for granted the results achieved by the post-war generation, but continue to maintain and develop a relationship that is essential for both countries. This is what the IHEDN and its German counterpart, the Bundesakademie für Sicherheit.
War in Ukraine: Europe's response
24 February 2022, Russia invades Ukraine. The world awoke to images of bombed cities. According to the European Union, the red lines have been crossed. The Russian offensive is one of the most serious violations of international law in decades. How have the 27 member states organised their response to an event that has already shaken the world order?
"Women must be more involved in spreading the spirit of defence".
Sophie de Ravinel is a listener at 2e national session 2022-2023, defence policy major. The current strategic context was the trigger for her application. The political journalist from Le Figaro wanted to improve her knowledge of defence and national security issues. A few days after registration opened for the 2023-2024 national session, she explains why women should apply.
Multilateralism is now in crisis
Multilateralism is failing to provide solutions to the various current crises. This situation has become even more acute since the outbreak of war in Ukraine. These are the findings of Jean-Vincent Holeindre and Julian Fernandez in their book, Nations désunies? The book brings together leading specialists in multilateralism to shed light on the various factors behind the decline of this central phenomenon in international relations.
Pierre Vimont: "Multilateralism must be reinvented".
Until the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Pierre Vimont was the French President's "special representative" in Russia. A witness to the collapse of the multilateralism created in 1945, he points to the inability of the major powers to take account of the agenda of those that have emerged: "the major global priorities (such as the climate, energy and food crises) require non-Western countries to be integrated into multilateralism".
Justin Vaïsse: "Geopolitics is slowly killing global governance".
At a time when the demise of multilateralism is being heralded, it is reappearing in new forms, involving new players, such as the Conferences of the Parties (COPs) and the Paris Peace Forum. In November, this forum brought together nearly 5,000 players in global governance. Justin Vaïsse, its founder and Managing Director, gives us his views on these new frameworks for international cooperation.
"The EU's relationship with power is being turned upside down".
"To arms, Europeans! This is the title of the article by Pierre Haroche, a specialist in European Union (EU) defence policy, published in the 3e Rubicon volume, "The European and transatlantic awakening". In support of this observation, the researcher recalls the means implemented in recent years to strengthen European security, and puts forward concrete proposals. In the light of recent events, he returns to these essential themes at the strategic debate organised by the IHEDN on 15 November.
Maritime spaces faced with the triptych of competition-contestation-clash.
In October 2021, General Burkhard, Chief of the Defence Staff, presented his "strategic vision". He warned of a profound change in the strategic context, in which the notion of conflict is becoming more complex, diffuse and permanent: "Conflicts used to be based on a 'peace-crisis-war' model. Nowadays, it's more like a triptych of 'competition-contestation-clash' (...). Through this analysis, General Burkhard points to the need to adapt our defence tools to forms of conflict that break with the model for which our armies were calibrated.
Because of their specific nature and growing importance, maritime areas are at the forefront of this new dynamic of power relations, where a multitude of players are using hybrid strategies to upset existing balances, without necessarily resorting to open conflict.
Alexandra Goujon: "Ukraine, between subject and object of History".
For its first strategic debate since the start of the academic year, the IHEDN has chosen a topical subject: Ukraine. Alexandra Goujon is the author of Ukraine from independence to warpublished by Le Cavalier bleu, in the Idées reçues collection. The gist of his talk is based on 5 received ideas.
