Thomas Flichy de La Neuville

The anxiety caused by the general confinement of the population cannot make us forget one fundamental fact: plant life, human life, and the life of civilizations are all founded on respiration, on a notion of inhalation and exhalation that we call “retreat-return.” Without confinement, creativity collapses. For plants, the dormancy of winter is a precursor…

The triumph of technology has not been limited to a revolution of our working tools; it has taken possession of our minds through a permanent state of connection. In the space of just a few years, technological disruption has snuffed out quiet contemplation and the pure creation that is inherent to poetry. So much so…

This article was first published by the Rennes School of Business. History is littered with ironies, so it is perhaps little surprise that the virus currently dominating our imaginations has taken up residence in three great civilizations that have fascinated France’s collective consciousness for almost 400 years. In the blink of an eye, chinoiseries, Persian…

The respiratory syndrome that first appeared among fish market stall-holders in Huanan, Wuhan in January 2019 has since claimed several hundred lives. While the virus has spread rapidly, the epidemic bears no relation to the major pandemics that have continually struck the world’s population throughout history. These include the Black Death, which killed 30-50% of…

Thomas Flichy de La Neuville is an IWP Research Professor and the Chair of Geopolitics at the Rennes School of Business. Europe is currently undergoing a series of fundamental changes. It is midway through the process of reconstituting itself, leaving its landscapes completely reshaped and mixing a whole array of identities within its major cities…

Great Britain’s exit from the European Union illustrates a half-forgotten scenario entitled “Islands” envisaged by the National Intelligence Council in 2017. Two years ago, this center for strategic thinking predicted that the world would enter a period of economic slow-down, generating resistance to globalization. According to the American forecasters, high technology would become more widespread,…

  Even though they both belong to the world of cold, the Arctic and Antarctic poles seem to function as two inverted geopolitical mirrors: the North Pole is an ocean surrounded by continents, while the South Pole is a continent surrounded by oceans.  

A geopolitical analyst, who tries to measure the variations of power over the days, sometimes imagines that two States are getting closer. It is not uncommon for this illusion to dissipate a few weeks later. Why?

Widely spread in the Sahelian zone because of its affordability and the mobility it provides motorists, motorcycles have become an element of social prestige for the youth. However, their use has been inordinately diverted for criminal purposes, thus leading to an increase of motorcycle attacks in the region. 

During the period of relative peace which took place during the second half of the eighteenth century, authoritarian seducers vegetated at the periphery of power, contenting themselves with satiating their appetites on female prey. Seduction, the artificial deception of others, had sometimes the attractive face of persuasion. Yet, a sovereign desirous of reigning with justice…