Permanent War and Europe’s Strategic Awakening

In recent years, the European strategic debate has revived a theme thought to have been buried with the end of the Cold War: the persistence of war as a structural element of international politics. The wars in the Balkans, the long era of counterterrorism, Russia’s return as a revisionist power, and China’s rise have gradually undermined the idea of a global order built on stability and the linear expansion of liberal peace. It is in this context that Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer, jurist and director of the Institut de recherche stratégique de l’École militaire (IRSEM), published Le réveil stratégique. Essai sur la guerre permanente (2023), advancing a radical thesis: war is not an exception but a permanent condition. He analyzes the changes that have made the boundary between peace and war increasingly porous, offering a framework that forces Western democracies to confront a genuine “strategic awakening.”