December 8, 17h30 (CET)
Marc Hecker (IFRI) and Élie Tenenbaum (IFRI)
The End of the War on Terror?
Hybrid: Remote/American University of Paris
It has already been twenty years since the World Trade Center towers came crashing down. Who would have believed that, two decades later, the global war on terrorism continues without an end in sight? From the sands of the Sahara to the jungles of southeast Asia and from the Iraqi plains to the Afghani mountains, the West and its allies are still chasing down the jihadist movement with faultless determination. The threat is not limited to far-off countries; Europe, and especially France, have paid a high price for this long conflict.
Based on several years of field investigations, this exceptional book, which was recently awarded the Prix du livre géopolitique, offers the first history of the war on terrorism from 2001 to today. The authors decipher the strategic dynamics of this conflict by explaining why it is so difficult to break the spiral of violence and look back over these two decades of fighting in order to find essential lessons for the future.
Based on several years of field investigations, The Twenty Years’ War: Jihadism and Counterterrorism in the XXIst Century, which was recently awarded the Prix du livre géopolitique, offers the first history of the war on terrorism from 2001 to today. The authors decipher the strategic dynamics of this conflict by explaining why it is so difficult to break the spiral of violence and look back over these two decades of fighting in order to find essential lessons for the future.
Speaker Bio:
Marc Hecker is Ifri’s Director of Research and Communications, the Editor-in-Chief of Politique étrangère, and a research fellow at the Security Studies Center. He holds a PhD in political science from University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He graduated from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques of Strasbourg and holds a Masters (DEA) in International Relations from University Paris 1 Panthéon – Sorbonne. He taught a course on “terrorism and asymmetric warfare” at Sciences Po for several years. He also spent one academic year at Trinity College, Dublin.
Marc Hecker has published several books: La presse française et la première guerre du Golfe (L’Harmattan, 2003), La défense des intérêts de l’Etat d’Israël en France (L’Harmattan, 2005), War 2.0: Irregular Warfare in the Information Age (Praeger, 2009 with Thomas Rid), Intifada française? (Ellipses, 2012) and La Guerre de vingt ans. Djihadisme et contre-terrorisme au XXIe siècle (Robert Laffont, 2021 with Elie Tenenbaum). His articles are published in major journals (Policy Review, Internationale Politik, Commentaire, Etudes, etc.) and newspapers (Le Monde, Le Figaro, Les Echos, Libération, etc.).
Speaker Bio:
Élie Tenenbaum is the Director of Ifri’s Security Studies Center. A PhD graduate in History (2015) and a Sciences Po graduate (2010), he was a Visiting Fellow at Columbia University. He has taught international security at Sciences Po and the history of international relations at the University of Lorraine.
Élie Tenenbaum works in particular on issues of irregular warfare, the fight against terrorism and hybrid threats as well as on French defense policy and military operations. He is the author of numerous articles and books on history and strategy, including his latest book, co-authored with Marc Hecker, La guerre de vingt ans : djihadisme et contre-terrorisme au XXIe siècle (The Twenty Years’ War: Jihadism and Counterterrorism in the XXIst Century), published by Robert Laffont in 2021.