This book provides an up-to-date survey of the major trends and strategic challenges facing the world today. Experts in their field offer concise as well as detailed analyses, most notably on the following subjects:
- the Iraqi crisis
- the new dynamics of nuclear proliferation
- the second phase of the battle against anti-terrorism
- "collapsed" states and international security
- an assessment of the anti-terrorist struggle in France
- European arms policy
- the technological gap between the United States and its European partners
- Space: one of the stakes in the power struggle between the United States and Europe
- European military potential, particularly the United Kingdom’s and Germany’s.

François Heisbourg, an internationally renowned specialist in international and defence issues, is the director of the Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique and president of the International Institute of Strategic Studies. He is the author of the recent Hyperterrorism: the new war.