A general overview on the french strategic equation though three major factors, interests, values and responsabilities based on a geopolitical approach.

This article deals with some of the strategic prospects for 2010. As well as a survey of the geopolitical scene (European countries, European security, nuclear security, the Middle East, extra-European areas, etc.), it outlines some longer-term systemic issues (the persistence of economic fragility, globalization, discontent with the monopoly of legitimate violence, transborder issues, biosphere challenges, etc.). This perspective gives both the depth of vision and the elevated viewpoint appropriate to the strategist.

The introduction of women into the armed forces is the fruit of a long historical process which has had to deal with a society marked by deep-rooted prejudices about the feminine condition. It took until the second half of the twentieth century for attitudes to change and allow a wider place for women in this male bastion. In a well-documented article, Michel Klen analyses this sociological process and puts forward his thoughts on the problems associated with the arrival of women in almost all military posts.

2010 will be the year of Russia in France, and of France in Russia. It will certainly merit an outburst of new books on this great country, with which we are nurturing ever-closer relations, all the more so as we are half way through the term of the current Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev. For the moment, however, political or geopolitical works remain scarce. The realities we need to examine closely seem to be refracted through the prism of history, culture, society and Russia’s relations with the ‘near abroad’ and Europe, which remain the big questions for today and tomorrow.

Articles in the French and English editions of RDN this month.
* The full text of articles marked with an asterisk is published in the English edition of this month’s RDN (www.defnat.com).