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Founder · ISA & CRSA

Dr Sylvain N’Guessan

Specialist in Foresight, Defence and Security.

Dr Sylvain N’Guessan, directeur de l’Institut de Stratégies Abidjan

Biography

Thinking about security from Africa

Director of the Institut de Stratégies d’Abidjan. Founding president of the think tank “Cercle de Réflexion Stratégique d’Abidjan”. Expert in foresight, defence and security.

Author of

  • Ivoire Géopolitique. Désir de puissance (2024)
  • La sécurité économique de la Côte d’Ivoire face à la menace terroriste. Perspectives africaines (2023)

Main assignments

Studies, advisory work and training in several countries: Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Guinea, Mauritania, Togo, Benin, Chad, Central African Republic, Congo, Burundi, Cameroon, South Africa, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, France and Germany.

Twenty-six years of experience

Humanitarian work; project coordination; human resources management; auditing; training; consulting; studies; foresight; political and security analysis; OSINT and HUMINT advisory work, intelligence and the defence industry; electoral strategy; design of security policy.

Main areas of expertise

  • Foresight and economic intelligence
  • Crisis management and business continuity planning
  • Country risk analysis
  • Geopolitics, defence and security
  • Management, training engineering and related fields
  • Promotion and protection of human rights
  • Humanitarian action and related fields

Education

  • PhD in political theory (University of Cocody)
  • Master’s in defence, security and crisis management (IRIS Sup, Paris)
  • Master’s in geopolitics and foresight (IRIS Sup, Paris)
  • Master’s in safety, emergency and security (University of Western Brittany)
  • Postgraduate diploma in human rights (CERAP)
  • Postgraduate diploma in human resources management (CESAG)

Certified in international economic relations (CERAP), governance (ENA Paris), DDR, SSR, ACM and peacebuilding (Bamako Peacekeeping School), and economic intelligence (ESLSCA Business School, Paris).

His current research focuses on debt, poverty and peace.

Books

Couverture du livre « Ivoire Géopolitique. Désir de puissance » de Sylvain N’Guessan

Ivoire Géopolitique. Désir de puissance
2024 · Foreword by Jean-Jacques Konadjé

Couverture du livre « La sécurité économique de la Côte d’Ivoire face à la menace terroriste » de Sylvain N’Guessan

La sécurité économique de la Côte d’Ivoire face à la menace terroriste
African perspectives · 2023 · Zadis

Areas of expertise

Scenario methods, analysis of long-term trends and disruptions, anticipatory monitoring.

Defence policy, human security, transnational threats and peace and security architecture.

Monitoring, protection of information assets and influence strategies for decision-makers.

Regional balances of power and Côte d’Ivoire’s place in its strategic environment.

A word from the founder

“We live in an age where the unpredictable has become the norm. Coups, pandemics, energy shocks, disinformation campaigns: each of these crises caught out decision-makers who nonetheless had the signals needed to anticipate them.

Strategy is not a luxury reserved for great powers. It is the condition of our autonomy. Training our leaders in strategic thinking and offering our fellow citizens a space to reflect on world affairs means refusing to be subjected to history, and trying, modestly but resolutely, to take part in it.”

Talks and publications

Author of Ivoire Géopolitique. Désir de puissance (2024) and La sécurité économique de la Côte d’Ivoire face à la menace terroriste. Perspectives africaines (2023). He leads studies, advisory assignments and training in some twenty countries across Africa and Europe, and directs the work of the Strategic Reflection Circle “Abidjan”.