A collective work
In «Are we at war?», (UPPR Éditions), Lieutenant-Colonel Olivier Entraygues offers a peer review, which focuses on two main areas for consideration:
- How do we know anything about war?
- What intellectual tools and methods are currently used to describe the «war phenomenon » ?
This reflection, which stems from the author's work on his Habilitation à diriger des recherches (HDR), has led to the proposal of a «cross fertiliser». The aim here is to advocate better integrating the academic and military dimensions. The study includes 6 chapters and 23 contributors.
With the participation of the Chair in Defence Economics
In the Fourth Chapter, Julien Malizard and Josselin Droff, Researchers at the Chair in Defence Economics have written a paper entitled: «Are we at war? An economic perspective».
The authors are interested in a little studied issue in defence economics: the sustainability of military operations. France is involved in a number of field operations which have cost more than a billion euros a year for almost ten years. An examination of the «additional costs of OPEX» illustrates the new intervention methods of the armed forces. This contribution examines, from an economic point of view, the operating cost borne by the armies involved in these military operations, whose duration, l‘intensity and the’scope have particularly increased in recent years.
Such a cost is difficult to assess because it has no economic value in itself. To assess it, we have to resort to indirect analyses, via the consequences for people and equipment. The authors' empirical work shows that, over the last ten years or so, the number of serious shortcomings This could ultimately lead to a reduction in France's military potential. This could ultimately lead to a reduction in France's military potential.
- A summary of the ideas developed is available on the Chair in Defence Economics.
- This contribution is the an extension of our thinking initiated by the authors and published in 2015 in the IRSEM Newsletter n°4/2015. It has been the subject of several papers by the authors : Study day of the Defence Economics - Conflict Economics working group (Blois, April 2017), 21st International Conference on Economics and Security (Royal Military Academy, Brussels, June 2017), IRSEM Conflict and Defence Economics Seminar (Paris, January 2018) and a publication in The Champs de Mars in May 2018.
