中欧社会论坛 - China Europa Forum

Workshop presentation

European Proposal

The questions of war and peace have, in all eras, been at the heart of the functioning of societies. From the mercenary bands at the exclusive service of the interests of warlords to the peoples rising as a mass to conquer their freedom, the forms taken by the exercise of force have been innumerable. Over the last century and as the technicity of the use of force has gradually grown from the rifle to the anti-missile shield, the nature of the armed forces has been transformed in depth. The model of mass conscription has been gradually replaced in a lot of countries, whether positif or not, by a model of a professional army whose relationships with the nation, as at the time of well-equipped and well-trained professional soldiers, will come up again sooner or later. Furthermore, since the 1950s, the very nature of conflicts has evolved. Frequently, very lethal conflicts within each nation have taken precedence, at the same time as the creation of the UN. The International Community saw itself invested with new responsibilities in peacekeeping. So much so that the involvement of armed forces, especially within national borders, is now almost exclusively carried out within the framework of peacekeeping operations, which implies a new conception of the relationships between army and society.

Finally, we are realising the need to define more broadly the very concept of security, which, above and beyond the protection of territorial integrity, extends to food security, securing energy supply, and threats weighing on social cohesion or on ecological balances.

Topics for debates

• How do the Chinese and European military conceive their new role and their new relationships with their society?
• How do they themselves define the notion of security?
• What role do they see for themselves in the future management of the planet?