Presentation

Interdisciplinary convergence to focus on war and security issues

War and warfare have attracted growing interest since the terrorist attacks of 2015 in France, and even more so in the international context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the redeployment of French troops in the Sahel region of Africa. For two decades, in the 1990s and 2000s, defense and security were rarely in the public eye. Today these issues are back in the forefront of debate in public opinion and rank high in the concerns of governments. These fields have traditionnally been studied as singular objects, as if they were exceptional and unlike any other academic field. They have generally been analyzed through the lenses of the protagonists in these two social universes. The Sorbonne War Studies (SWS) program takes a position counter to this conception and aims to decompartmentalize the study of these two objects, using the ordinary tools of the human and social sciences.

War and security studies are fragmented and dispersed in France and lack appropriate institutions. Most of the research programs are limited to narrow niche topics. There is a need for an original and ambitious proposal for research to delve into the transformation of the role of armies in contemporary society, and the accompanying changes in the exercise of authority and the legitimity of the State.

This effort to revitalize strategic studies can be carried out under two conditions. First of all, to put an end to their academic ostracism, these studies must be "demystified." The military and its institutions must no longer be treated as a "black box" and warfare must not be regarded as an "exceptional" phenomenon. The evolution of the interaction between armies and their environment must be investigated, as an indicator of the transformation of political and social relations in general. By focusing our attention on the ecosystem of armed forces we are able to study traditional objects such as war, the State, the legitimacy and the specificity of military activity, while renewing our approaches in an interdisciplinary perspective. This is the most effective way to encompass both the evolution of conflict and the reshaping of the exercice of authority and of legitimacy.

SWS is an interdisciplinary program of research and training, spanning law, geography, history, political science, and sociology. Research is structured along three main lines: the operational setting (in relation to territories and populations); the decision-making environment (role and influence of chiefs of staff and defense administrations in the defense–security continuum); and the socioprofessional context (reorganization of careers, reflecting contact with other security domains). SWS academic training is based on departments that are open both to students and to actors in the "ecosystem" of military organizations and operations.