CIENS (Centre interdisciplinaire d’étude sur le nucléaire et la stratégie) study day – 12 October 2022 – Jourdan Campus
The Centre interdisciplinaire d’étude sur le nucléaire et la stratégie (CIENS) is organising a study day on the intellectual legacy of Thérèse Delpech (1948-2012), a former graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure and Director of Foresight at the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), as well as a philosopher concerned with preventing the “impoverishment of the world”.
A senior civil servant specialising in international and strategic issues, Thérèse Delpech was Director of Foresight at the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and a member of the United Nations commission on disarmament in Iraq. She was also a philosopher concerned to help prevent the world from becoming “enslaved”, a return to the barbarism she saw emerging in international relations.
The aim of this study day is to look back at her professional career, to examine the circulation of the notions and concepts in her work and to take stock of her intellectual legacy, both philosophical and strategic.
The first step is to look back at her career, by reading and re-reading her texts, but also by listening to the accounts of those who knew her. For this humanist philosopher, history and literature were tools for understanding the world: indeed, she was a key player in the strategy of deterrence in France, in the continuation of Pierre Hassner’s work.
A former student at the École normale supérieure, essayist and researcher, as well as a senior civil servant in the service of the State, Thérèse Delpech is committed to the interdependence of philosophical reflection and strategic proposals. Her aim is to revive an understanding of history that cannot be achieved without ethical reflection. Its idealism does not prevent it from expressing sympathy for the present while being aware of its responsibility for the future.
Faced with the triumph of abstract thinking about technical progress, which she denounced in order to emphasise the need for situational intelligence and moral imperatives, her work expresses the need to renew our understanding of “strategic grammar”. This renewal involves emancipating ourselves from the prejudices of the past and becoming aware of the ethical issues involved, as opposed to the omnipresence of Machiavellianism in international relations. Yet her work takes a sombre look at the power and rise of irrationality in the world, notably in L’Ensauvagement (2005), because for her, the pursuit of ideals was no obstacle to formulating a lucid assessment of the contemporary world. In her view, concern about the “return of barbarism” should be the starting point for thinking about the future.
The three bets she puts forward at the end of this essay need to be assessed in the light of contemporary events: the intensification of terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the evolution of Sino-American relations, given that “Asia is the epicentre of strategic affairs and not just affairs in general”. This re-reading would not obscure the non-consensual dimension of some of his positions, such as his support for intervention in Iraq in 2003.
It will also be a question of reflecting on the way in which her reflections continue today, since her work attempts to define the nature and conditions of political activity, while calling for action and transmission. Reading Thérèse Delpech’s work leads us to realise the importance of building a strategic culture, which would be achieved by teaching strategic issues and nuclear deterrence, by transmitting knowledge between states, and by a strategy of cooperation and mediation.
Program
10h45
Welcome coffee
11h30
Introduction
11h40
Round Table 1
Different perspectives on the intellectual career of Thérèse Delpech
Jean-Vincent Holeindre – University of Paris-Panthéon Assas / IRSEM
Ariel Levite – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
George Perkovich – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Bruno Tertrais – Foundation for Strategic Research
Crossed perspectives on Thérèse Delpech, her professional and intellectual career, the critical reception of her work abroad, her intellectual filiations – elements of intellectual sociology.
13h10
Buffet lunch
14h15
Presentation: “Ensauvagement” as a philosophical concept
Perrine Simon-Nahum – ENS-UIm
What is the place of the irrational in political philosophy? What is its relationship with violence? The originality and use of this concept in strategic thinking.
15h
Round table 2
Thérèse Delpech and the question of nuclear crises
Moderator: Tiphaine de Champchesnel – IRSEM
Héloïse Fayet – French Institute of International Relations
Andreas Lutsch – Hochschule des Bundes für öffentliche Verwaltung / Institut für Geschichte
Dominique Mongin – École Normale Supérieure-UIm (CIENS)
His work is useful for understanding past and present strategic upheavals: the return of high-intensity warfare to Europe after the invasion of Ukraine, nuclear threats, the emergence of Asian powers, and the special case of Iran – co
Utilité de son œuvre pour comprendre les bouleversements stratégiques actuels et passés : retour de la guerre de haute intensité sur le sol européen après l’invasion de l’Ukraine, menaces nucléaires, émergence de puissances asiatiques, le cas particulier de l’Iran – how its major concepts can be applied today: the resignation of nations, the politics of chaos, barbarism in international relations.
16h10
Coffee break
16h20
Round table 2 (continued)
Thérèse Delpech and the question of nuclear crises – Asia
Moderator: Corentin Brustlein – Directorate General for International Relations and Strategy
Chung Min Lee – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Brad Roberts – Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Rakesh Sood – Observer Research Foundation
17h30
General conclusions
What about the renewal of strategic studies in the 21st century?
Corentin Brustlein – Directorate General for International Relations and Strategy
Mélanie Rosselet – CIENS
Is there a common strategic and deterrence culture today? How can we avoid intellectual disarmament on strategic issues?
18h15
End of proceedings