Sciences Po
university
| Sciences Po link | |
|---|---|
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| Formation | 1872 |
| Headquarters | Paris, France |
| Leader | Sciences Po/Director |
| Many members of the French public service have studied at the institution. | |
The Paris Institute of Political Studies, commonly referred to as Sciences Po Paris or just Sciences Po, is a grande école and grand établissement located in Paris and other cities in France.
It originates in a private school founded in Paris in 1872 by Émile Boutmy. Boutmy aimed at modernizing the education of political elites in France by teaching them contemporary history rather than classical studies, which they would learn in universities at the same time.[1] It acquired an important role in France's public service system and many members of the French public service have studied at the institution on top of primary studies they undertook in universities. The school was re-founded in 1945 as a semi-public "institute", after criticism of the attitude of its staff during WW2 and calls for its closure.
From Gaullism to transatlanticism
Since the mid-1990s, under the semi-formal leadership of Olivier Duhamel, Sciences Po was substantially changed, from a Gaullist outlook, where France could try for an independent foreign policy, to a transatlantic one, under US tutelage. Wikipedia describes this as "to broaden its focus and to prepare students for the private sector too, to diversify and internationalize its student body and curriculum". The change in policy might have been part of a bigger concerted effort to subvert France: Duhamel was arrested in 2021 for pedophile rape, a situation at the very least leaves open the possibility of decades of sexual blackmail.
Researcher Christian Lequesne explains this change: "Diplomats between the ages of 45 and 55 are steeped in Westernism,". In particular because, since the 2000s, the teaching of international relations at Sciences Po - which continues to be provided to most future French diplomats - confronts students with ideas of French foreign policy other than those independence and rank. "For twenty years, in diplomatic circles, we have witnessed a silent war between supporters of" Gaullo-Mitterrandism", for whom France must preserve its independence vis-à-vis the United States, and the neoconservatives anxious that France becomes the best student in the western camp.[2]