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Finance

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Finance has become an important aspect of contemporary international relations, not only for its effects on the economy, but also for its possible "weaponization" for political ends.

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Publications
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Why Chinese Fintechs Have Failed to Reshuffle International Finance

Date de publication
04 March 2024
Accroche

New Chinese financial technologies, including unparalleled electronic payment systems, have so far failed to threaten U.S. financial dominance.

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First Year of Lula: Overview of the Political Situation in Brazil

Date de publication
11 January 2024
Accroche

This Briefing offers an analysis of Brazil's political and economic situation and prospects at the end of 2023. It also examines Brazil's position on certain international relations issues, thirteen months after Lula's election.

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War in Ukraine: How Does the Russian Economy Stand?

Date de publication
05 December 2023
Accroche

The Russian economy is weathering the war and Western sanctions: it has maintained its exports, its business sector has shown marked dynamism, and the population is managing in part thanks to state spending.

The South versus the West?

Date de publication
05 December 2023
Accroche

In 2023, forums that amplify the voice of the “Global South” have proliferated and grown louder. As contradictory and divided as they may be, these forums (BRICS+, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), G20, the Group of 77, the European Silk Road Summit…) attest to the emergence of new power relations, and especially new directions in foreign policy, with states rejecting alignment with the dominant powers of the past in favor of putting their own interests first. A new world is taking shape, with changeable, still uncertain, contours.

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COP28: Daunting Stakes and Pivotal Decisions on the Table

Date de publication
30 November 2023
Accroche

The UN climate conference in Dubai faces a moment of troubled geopolitical agenda lowering the focus on the climate emergency, but natural ecosystems will not wait for human decisions. A challenging test for the survival of diplomacy.

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COP28: A Tale of Money, Fossil Fuels, and Divisions

Date de publication
16 November 2023
Accroche

“Humanity has opened the gates of hell”, said the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres during the Climate Ambition Summit, in New York, in September 2023, three months before COP28. The sense of urgency that he conveyed seems shared across the international community. 

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Impossible Decoupling, Improbable Cooperation: Economic Interdependencies in the Face of Power Rivalries

Date de publication
02 November 2023
Accroche

Export restrictions, economic and financial sanctions, politicization of monetary and financial choices, screening of inward and outward foreign direct investments, exceptional customs duties, and state interventions in sectors deemed strategic: the political vise is tightening around international economic and financial relations.

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The End of a Happy Parenthesis. How the War in UkraineI Is Forcing Germany to Rethink Its Model

Date de publication
28 September 2023
Accroche

The period of peace, economic prosperity, and political stability that Germany has experienced since the end of the Cold War ends with the Ukrainian war. The shock wave of this conflict particularly hit its economy and thereby undermines the foundations on which Germany had based its power, its international influence and established its identity.

European Union: A Geopolitical Illusion?

Date de publication
12 September 2023
Accroche

The European Union (EU) is holding firm in the face of the war in Ukraine—perhaps better than expected. But what long-term effects will the war have on European institutions and policies? The institutions will need to be changed to cope with the forthcoming expansions. The EU has certainly made progress toward common industrial and technological policies. But will this dynamic do away with a conception of strategic autonomy, encompassing both diplomacy and strategy? The European Union, which will undoubtedly be a key mover of future changes for the continent, remains largely uncertain in terms of its future configurations.

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Fiscal Policy in France and Germany: Insurmountable Differences?

Date de publication
05 September 2023
Accroche

The state of public finances in France and Germany is often compared. Germany is considered a model of rigor, through its ability to contain its deficits and generate surpluses, particularly between 2012 and 2019, thanks to the introduction into its constitution of a debt brake mechanism. 

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The US Oil Embargo on Iran: A New Oil Shock?

Date de publication
17 October 2018
Accroche

The 14 July 2015 Vienna agreement on Iran’s nuclear activities (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – JCPoA) was a game changer on the geopolitics in the Middle East and for the oil market. The oil sanctions were lifted and Iran increased significantly its production and exports. On 8 May 2018, President Trump announced that the United Stated (US) would withdraw from the agreement. Financial sanctions were reintroduced. From 5 November 2018 onwards, further sanctions will be re-imposed more specifically on petroleum related transactions, including the purchase of petroleum, petroleum products and petrochemical products. What could be the impact of this new embargo? Is there a risk of a new oil supply and price shock?

Raising the Costs to President Putin

Date de publication
01 April 2014
Accroche

-by building dissonance within. Some like to remember fondly the call by Ronald Reagan for Gorbachev “to tear down this wall”. The United States “Won the Cold War” said George Bush Senior in his State of the Union Address. We need to step back and recognize with some humility that the Soviet Union fell largely of its own weight rather than as a result of external pressure. Again today Russia is economically weak. It has become an exporter of raw materials, its industrial sector is weak, and its revenues are already falling. Conditions now offer the opportunity to aggravate Russia’s economic frailty – let’s focus on that.

Reading Rouhani Right

Date de publication
05 March 2014
Accroche

Poll numbers are the life blood of politics these days. Anything expressed in digits has a claim to truth that assertions without digits cannot make. They inspire confidence - especially among those aspiring to public office - that they actually understand what public sentiment is. If you lived between nuclear-armed Israel and Pakistan and had as many world class enemies as Iran has accumulated - would you give up your pursuit of a nuclear weapon?

Don't Bank on Change: Finance and Regulatory Reform in the U.S.

Date de publication
04 September 2012
Accroche

As a number of provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act are entering into force, five years after the beginnings of the financial crisis, Professor Herman Schwartz explains how the U.S. banking community will continue to hurt the interests of the American economy and political system.

The G20 and the Challenge of International Financial Re-regulation

Date de publication
18 January 2011
Accroche

The crisis, it is now widely accepted, means that markets failed. Meeting for the first time in Washington in November 2008, the G20 embarked in a ride of re-regulation. Months of negotiations later, it dramatically appears different to agree on principles and broad objectives, and to write and enforce rules and commitments. 

The Financial Challenges of the Sub-Saharan Africa Telecoms Boom

Date de publication
09 June 2010
Accroche

Telecom industry has taken a significant place within of the economy of most African countries. In this aspect, it is an undeniable source of economic growth and development. It impacts on the financial sphere at three levels. 

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Ifri, a foundation recognized as being of public utility, relies largely on private donors – companies and individuals – to guarantee its sustainability and intellectual independence. Through their funding, donors help maintain the Institute's position among the world's leading think tanks. By benefiting from an internationally recognized network and expertise, donors refine their understanding of geopolitical risk and its consequences on global politics and the economy. In 2024, Ifri will support more than 70 French and foreign companies and organizations.

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Geoeconomics and Geofinance Initiative
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Economic questions are approached from a political economy perspective: the evolution of the global economic system, governance and institutions, dynamics and trends of various economic zones (United States, Russia, China, emerging markets...). European issues are at the core of our research. 

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