As last year, we bring you a selection of essays chosen from those published in the English edition of Revue Défense Nationale in 2011. They are intended to give English-speaking readers—especially those who have not read the regular editions throughout 2011—an idea of current geopolitical and strategic think­ing in France. They also have lasting value: the ideas put forward in them will, we think, continue to be relevant for some time to come. They reflect our journal’s interest in vital parts of the world, in 2010 it was China and Iran; for this selection it focuses on Europe and the Mediterranean, and a look east towards Germany and further still, to Russia.

Nine articles cannot hope to be entirely representative of a year’s publication. But we hope that they will encourage you to visit our website (www.defnat.com) to find out more about us, read the Open Forum and see that we are now appearing in Arabic, Russian and (soon) Mandarin Chinese.