Books & ideas

Carnivalizing Capital

Julien Le Mauff — 2026-09-24T07:29:00Z

Part celebration, part demonstration, the activist carnival has emerged as a form that blends festive traditions and subversive politics. As a strategy for mobilization as well as transgression, carnival blurs the boundary between revolt and theater.

The discreet power of ambassadors' wives

Carl Petersen — 2026-09-22T06:30:00Z

Despite being confined to diplomacy's backstage, ambassadors' wives were the invisible architects of France's prestige abroad. From social receptions to soft power, Isabelle Dasque examines two centuries of feminine influence.

Reflecting on Poverty, Fostering Solidarity

Julien Le Mauff — 2026-09-17T06:30:00Z

Active in the fight against poverty since the 1950s, the ATD Fourth World movement has successfully combined grassroots action, research and advocacy, exerting a lasting influence on social policies in France and internationally.

Back to the welfare state?

Étienne Goron — 2026-09-15T07:05:02Z

Amid the never-ending crisis of the welfare state and the waning of the principle of solidarity, Sacha Lévy-Bruhl proposes a new interpretation. Starting from the idea of collective responsibility, he pursues an important goal: rethinking social protection in the twenty-first century.

Left behind by personal autonomy

Romain Philit — 2026-09-10T07:40:16Z

What are the emancipatory prospects for women excluded from salaried work? By analyzing working-class Maghrebin women's attitudes towards work, family, and heterosexuality, Fatma Çingi Kocadost shows the limits of individual emancipation through work.

One is not born, but becomes Black

Pascale Barthélémy — 2026-09-08T06:43:24Z

Black women—whether from the Caribbean, Africa, or of African descent—have conceptualized and embodied French citizenship. Their often hidden trajectories and struggles illustrate an alternative history of the nation, shaped by colonialism, when seen through the lenses of race, class, and gender.

Power's retreat

Emeline Durand — 2026-09-03T08:11:00Z

How does justice vanquish force? Simone Weil's thought unifies politics and religion while proposing a radical conception of power, understood not as domination but as retreat, in a world in which violence gives way to obedience.

Gendering Philosophy

Johanna Lenne-Cornuez — 2026-09-01T07:58:38Z

Can one philosophize as a feminist when the history of philosophy is so gendered? Yes—but this requires paying close attention to the positions that traverse and often constitute it.

Moderating power

Johanna Lenne-Cornuez — 2026-07-08T12:16:58Z

Bernard Manin sees Montesquieu as a political philosopher who was attentive to the plurality of political forms and the way that such pluralism can, in moderate regimes, prevent the abuse of power. This is why it is important, he explains, to keep reading this Enlightenment philosopher.

Peace, prosperity, petroleum

Louis Fagon — 2026-06-23T07:04:14Z

The intensive use of carbon energies has brought prosperity, particularly since 1945, along with relatively peaceful international relations. Decarbonation makes it necessary, according to Pierre Charbonnier, to invent a new form of geopolitics.