On June 24th 2010, the first National Forum for Strategic Research drew in upwards of 700 attendees. Now in 2011, the Institute for Higher National Defence Studies, in conjunction with the National Institute of High Studies of Security and Justice, and the CSFRS, are in preparation for the second edition, to be held June 8th at the military academy in Paris. The topics for the 2011 forum are as follows; France, Europe, World, Strategic Flows and Tensions: States at Crossroad.
To view the agenda, or to register for the 2011 forum please visit our website. Note that if you would like to attend, online registration is compulsory. While registering we’d appreciate if you indicate the afternoon workshop you intend on attending.
The Forum’s webpage will be undergoing changes over the next few weeks, as more material will be added. We encourage you to visit us from time to time to gain the new information and to read the official introductory paper, which will be published shortly.

A disturbing beginning to the century : failed models, weak warning signs

by Alain Bauer, President of the CSFRS	and Philippe Baumard, Chairman of the CSFRS Scientific Council

The 21^st century appears to have become the century of global crises. Nature has reminded us of the reality of our human interdependency. Three major "crises" have haunted the first decade of the century : a crisis of government systems ; a crisis of the climate and natural ecosystem ; a crisis of governance and anticipation.

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From the conduct of the war to the builduin of resilience

by vice-admiral Richard Laborde,
director of the IHEDN

The Institute for Higher National Defence Studies (IHEDN) is heir to a long tradition rooted in a Decree of 14 August 1936 creating the College of Higher National Defence Studies (CHEDN). In the College, an elite group of officers from the three forces as well a certain number of civil servants from the Ministries concerned studied issues related to military strategy and those with repercussions on the conduct of war. Given that the shadow of fighting surrounded its creation, the College was of military inspiration first and foremost¹. The CHEDN was placed under the authority of the Minister of Defence.

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Flows and Criminality : the Paradoxical fight

André-Michel Ventre,
Director of the INHESJ

Irrespective of the attempts to define globalization, whether as an uncontrollable phenomenon of geographical extension of non-government stakeholder objectives or, on the contrary, of voluntary government strategies, it is expressed and characterised by a mass of flows, to the extent that it is no longer anything other than the dominant symptom and sole element of its measure. Globalization cannot, however, be reduced to observation of internationalisation of exchanges of all types, but should also be analysed in terms of the malfunctions it is likely to generate, in particular in terms of security. In that respect, one can only recognise that the opportunities offered by easy communication and travel, combined with deregulation of economies and the resulting transformations in States are factors conducive to the development of criminal activities.

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