The French, it is well known, approach change rather differently from the British or the Americans, and this holds true in defence and security. The Pentagon revisits its defence planning assumption every four years and the British always seem to be drafting a new strategy review or national security document. In France, we do it once a generation. We do not change often, but when we do we change radically .

This approach is not without drawbacks: radical change can hurt more than incremental shifts. But there are advantages to a comprehensive re-appraisal when strategic circumstances change radically. This is the case today. We have to adapt to globalisation, with its potential for systemic upsets, be they the result of real threats – such as the attacks of September, 11 2001 – or from unintended disasters whose ripple effects rapidly reach every corner of the earth. At the same time globalisation is being de-westernised, increasingly driven by the rise of Asia, limiting the Atlantic world’s ability to write the rules. The old crises of the Middle East are converging, aggravated by the proliferation of nuclear weapons.