Institut français des relations internationales
Thierry de Montbrial stood at the center of a quiet revolution in French foreign policy thinking during 1973. Minister Michel Jobert placed him in charge of establishing the Centre d'Analyse et de Prévision within the Ministry under President Georges Pompidou. This role gave Montbrial the chance to analyze the international relations system from the inside. He began imagining an independent research center dedicated to this subject shortly after his appointment. The year 1979 marked the official founding of IFRI with support from Prime Minister Raymond Barre and Foreign Ministers Louis de Guiringaud and Jean François-Poncet. Marc Gilbert, formerly a producer for Italiques at the Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française, became the general secretary. The institute was established upon an already existing institution called the Centre d'Etudes de Politique Etrangère founded in 1935 by French universities and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
IFRI operates independently from all administrative and financial regulatory authorities without any affiliation to political parties. Its budget amounts to about 6.5 million Euros as recorded in 2011. Approximately 70% of funding comes from private sources while the rest derives from subsidies or state contracts. The organization employs around 60 people including 30 French nationals and foreign researchers from various backgrounds. More than half of these employees are less than 40 years old. Dominique Moïsi serves as a special advisor within the structure. Today the Institute maintains about 80 partner companies and almost 400 members who are either private individuals or state and NGO institutions. This diverse membership base supports its mission to gather decision-makers and researchers together.
The Brussels office opened its doors in March 2005 and has organized approximately 30 events each year since then. IFRI works regularly with counterparts like the RAND Corporation and the Brookings Institution. Strategic alliances extend to the Council On Foreign Relations and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Partners also include the Carnegie Endowment For International Peace and the Japan Institute for International Affairs (JIIA). The Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik maintain close ties. These partnerships allow the institute to operate across multiple continents while maintaining its Paris headquarters. The Brussels presence specifically targets European policy discussions and regional security matters.
Policy oriented research aims at highlighting important international events for political and economic decision makers. Work divides into research centers organized by regions including Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East/Maghreb. Additional regional focus areas cover contemporary Turkey, the United States of America, Russia/NIS, and French-German relations. Thematic divisions address globalization and global economics alongside strategic and security issues. Migrations and identity issues form another major category within the research framework. Energy geopolitics and climate change represent additional thematic pillars. Each center publishes its own collection online available on the Ifri website. This structure allows researchers to specialize deeply while contributing to broader institutional goals.
Ramsès serves as an annual collective work dedicated to main global trends since 1981 with circulation running about 10,000 copies. Politique Etrangère was created in 1936 as the first French magazine on this subject. A special issue appeared in 2006 to celebrate the magazine's 70th anniversary. IFRI also produces shorter works called Notes de l'Ifri and Les Etudes de l'Ifri. A short magazine named Actuelles de l'Ifri rounds out their publication portfolio. The institute maintains about 10 online collections containing specialized research findings. In 2012 alone they published 12 books four of which appeared in foreign languages. That same year saw 130 Notes d'Ifri released half of them translated into English German or Russian. These publications reach political leaders academic institutions and opinion leaders worldwide.
The Institute organizes approximately 40 conferences each year in Paris with 42 held during 2011. Guest speakers from previous years included Nicolas Sarkozy Dmitri Medvedev Hu Jintao Jalal Talabani Hamid Karzai Vladimir Putin Mikheil Saakashvili Abdoulaye Wade Vaclav Klaus Pervez Musharraf Abdullah Gül Boris Tadic Viktor Yanukovych Paul Kagame Herman Van Rompuy José Manuel Barroso and Anders Fogh Rasmussen. These events allow decision-makers to shed light upon international issues through direct dialogue. Every year the institute hosts guest speakers from all over the world for this purpose. The annual gatherings provide a platform for interactive and constructive dialogue between researchers professionals and opinion leaders. This approach fulfills IFRI's goal of developing applied research related to public policy on major contemporary international issues.
Continue Browsing
Common questions
When was the Institut français des relations internationales founded?
The Institut français des relations internationales was officially founded in 1979. This founding occurred with support from Prime Minister Raymond Barre and Foreign Ministers Louis de Guiringaud and Jean François-Poncet.
Who established the Centre d'Analyse et de Prévision that became IFRI?
Thierry de Montbrial stood at the center of establishing the Centre d'Analyse et de Prévision within the Ministry under President Georges Pompidou during 1973. Marc Gilbert later served as general secretary after becoming a producer for Italiques at the Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française.
How is the budget of the Institut français des relations internationales funded?
The institute operates independently from all administrative and financial regulatory authorities without any affiliation to political parties. Approximately 70% of funding comes from private sources while the rest derives from subsidies or state contracts, totaling about 6.5 million Euros as recorded in 2011.
Where are the international offices of the Institut français des relations internationales located?
The Paris headquarters maintains close ties with a Brussels office that opened its doors in March 2005. The Brussels presence specifically targets European policy discussions and regional security matters while allowing the institute to operate across multiple continents.
What publications does the Institut français des relations internationales produce annually?
Ramsès serves as an annual collective work dedicated to main global trends since 1981 with circulation running about 10,000 copies. In 2012 alone they published 12 books four of which appeared in foreign languages alongside 130 Notes d'Ifri released half of them translated into English German or Russian.