BADALASSI Nicolas
Contact details
Director of UMR MESOPOLHIS, professor of contemporary history, specialist in the Cold War and international relations
Functions
University lecturer in contemporary history at the IEP in Aix-en-Provence
Director of UMR MESOPOLHIS
Head of the Geostrategy, Defence and International Security Master's programme
Academic work
History Agrégation - 7th rank - 2007
Doctorate in contemporary history - Sorbonne University
Nouvelle - Paris - 2011 (edited by Frédéric Bozo)
HDR in contemporary history - Université Panthéon - Sorbonne - Paris - 2021 (supervisor: Marie-Pierre Rey)
Areas of research
History of international relations
Cold War
France's foreign policy
Security and cooperation in Europe and the Mediterranean
CSCE/OSCE
Russian and Soviet policy in the Mediterranean
Doctoral supervision
Scientific coordinator, programme manager
Since 1 January 2021: Head of Axis 5 of UMR Mesopolhis, "Contemporary violence, crisis and conflict".
2019-2020: coordinator of the Franco-German seminar at Sciences po Aix and the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
2019-2020: co-leader of the oral history programme at the Diplomatic Archives (La Courneuve) on the Charter of Paris (1990)
Since 2017: co-organiser of the research seminar "de la guerre", IEP d'Aix/Mesopolhis
2012-2013: Administrator of the ANR Cold War programme at the Sorbonne, Universités Panthéon
Sorbonne and Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris
2012-2013: Head of the young researchers' workshop in contemporary history of the 2291 ICEE (Integration and Cooperation in the European Space) host team, Sorbonne Nouvelle.
Member of the Scientific Committee of the Revue libre des sciences humaines et sociales
Member of the scientific committee of Un œil sur la Cité, Sciences po Aix's Hypothesis Notebook
Productions
WORKS
BOOK AND JOURNAL EDITORS
- France, Germany, and Nuclear Deterrence: Quarrels and Convergences during the Cold War and Beyond, edited by Nicolas Badalassi and Frédéric Gloriant, New York, Berghahn Books, 2021.
- Reconstructing Europe, 45 years after Yalta. La Charte de Paris (1990), edited by Nicolas Badalassi and Jean-Philippe Dumas, Paris, CTHS-MEAE, 2020.
- The CSCE and the End of the Cold War: Diplomacy, Societies and Human Rights, 1972-1990, edited by Nicolas Badalassi and Sarah B. Snyder, New York, Berghahn Books, 2018.
- En finir avec la guerre froide. La France, l'Europe et le processus d'Helsinki, 1965-1975, preface by Frédéric Bozo, Rennes, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2014.
- Eastern European countries and the Mediterranean. Relations et regards croisés, 1967-1989, edited by Nicolas Badalassi and Houda Ben Hamouda, Les cahiers Irice n°10, 2013.
- Pour quelques missiles de plus. La crise de Cuba au miroir de la presse communiste française et italienne, Saarbrücken, European University Publishing, 2011.
ARTICLES
IN REFEREED JOURNALS
- The Mediterranean in the global cold war. Historiographie d'un espace-monde", in Les Cahiers
de la Méditerranée, 2021, forthcoming.
- Neither Too Much Nor Too Little. France, the USSR and the Helsinki CSCE", in Cold War History,
18/1, 2018.
- La France et la neutralité finlandaise au temps de la Guerre froide", in Nordiques, n°34, 2017.
- "La France, les Neutres et les Non-Alignés durant le processus d'Helsinki", in Revue d'Histoire diplomatique, 2017/1.
- "Les accords d'Helsinki ou le triomphe des conceptions paneuropéennes du général de Gaulle", in Vingtième siècle. Revue d'histoire, n°119, 2013/3, July-August 2013.
- "Un continent, deux visions. France, the United States and the Helsinki process", in Relations internationales, No 154, September 2013.
- Pax Romana? L'Italie, le pacte de Varsovie et le processus d'Helsinki, 1964-1975", in P.R.I.S.M.I, Revue d'études italiennes, n°10, Paris, Chemins de traverse, 2012.
- "Deux exemples d'apports méthodologiques à l'histoire de la guerre froide : l'enquête du sociologue, la modélisation de l'économiste", Cahiers de la Nouvelle Europe, n°17, Paris, L'Harmattan, 2012.
- Cold War paranoia. La peur et le refus de la guerre en France et en Italie à travers les images. 1945-1985", Cahiers de la Méditerranée, n°83, Nice, 2011.
- Etre un centre ou ne pas être. L'exemple de la France du général de Gaulle, 1958-1969", in Cahiers de la Nouvelle Europe, n°14, Paris, L'Harmattan, 2011.
- Centre, périphérie, pôle et réseau: constantes et changements", in Cahiers de la Nouvelle Europe, no. 14, Paris, L'Harmattan, 2011.
CONTRIBUTIONS
A COLLECTIVE WORKS
- France, the European Neutrals and the Kremlin, 1947-1981", in Mark Kramer, Aryo Makko, Peter Ruggenthaler (eds.), European Neutrality and the Kremlin during the Cold War, Rowman & Littlefield, 2021.
- La Magna Carta de la liberté'. La Charte de Paris dans l'histoire de la CSCE", in Reconstruire l'Europe, 45 ans après Yalta. La Charte de Paris (1990), in Nicolas Badalassi and Jean-Philippe Dumas (eds.), Paris, CTHS-MEAE, 2020.
- Le processus d'Helsinki, clé de voûte de la politique française de détente à l'égard de l'Europe centrale et orientale", in Ferenc Gazdag (ed.), Vers une nouvelle Europe ? La France et l'Europe centrale au regard des relations franco-hongroises contemporaines, Budapest, Dialog Campus, 2019.
- "A Helsinki folyamat, Franciaország közép- és kelet-európai enyhülési politikájának sarkköve", in Ferenc Gazdag (ed.), Franciaország és Közép-Európa. Tanulmániok, Budapest, Dialog Campus, 2019.
- France, the CSCE, and the German Question, 1969-1975", in Frédéric Bozo, Christian Wenkel (eds.), France and the German Question, 1945-1990, New York, Berghahn Books, 2019.
- Le processus d'Helsinki, clé de voûte de la politique française de détente à l'égard de l'Europe centrale et orientale", in Ferenc Gazdag (ed.), Vers une nouvelle Europe ? La France et l'Europe centrale au regard des relations franco-hongroises contemporaines, Budapest, Dialóg Campus, 2019.
- From Talleyrand to Sakharov: French Diplomacy in search of a Helsinki Effect", in Nicolas Badalassi, Sarah B. Snyder (eds.), The CSCE and the End of the Cold War: Diplomacy, Societies and Human Rights, 1975-1990, New York, Berghahn Books, 2018.
- "L'Organisation pour la Sécurité et la Coopération en Europe (OSCE), de la Guerre froide aux défis du XXIe siècle", in Gilles Grin, Françoise Nicod, Bernhard Altermatt (eds.), Formes d'Europe. Union européenne et autres organisations, Paris, Economica, 2018.
- Sea and Détente in Helsinki. The Mediterranean Stake of the CSCE, 1972-1975", in Elena Calandri, Daniele Caviglia, Antonio Varsori (eds.), Détente in Cold War Europe. Politics and Diplomacy in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, London, I.B.Tauris, 2016.
- Georges Pompidou et le processus d'Helsinki : la division Est-Ouest en question", in Andreas Wilkens (ed.), Une année particulière. 1973 et les tourments de l'Europe, Brussels, Peter Lang, 2016.
- Disunion in the West? Les relations euro-américaines de 1965 à 1975", in Marie-Christine Michaud (ed.), Amériques/Europe : vers quels rapports de force, Université de Bretagne-Sud, 2015.
- Transmitting the "freedom virus". France, the Soviet Union, and the cultural aspects of the CSCE", in Simo Mikkonen, Pia Koivunen (eds), Beyond the Curtain: Entangled Histories of the Cold War-Era Europe, Oxford, Berghahn, 2015.
- "One continent, two blocs, three ideas. Comecon, the EEC and the Helsinki Process", in Wilfried Loth, Nicolae Păun, (eds.), Disintegration and Integration in East-Central Europe (1919 - Post-1989), Cluj-Napoca, Nomos, 2014.
- Un autre rideau de fer? L'impact de la question chypriote sur le processus d'Helsinki", in Nicolas Badalassi, Houda Ben Hamouda (dir.), Les pays d'Europe orientale et la Méditerranée. Relations et regards croisés, 1967-1989, Les cahiers Irice n°10, 2013.
- La détente sous conditions. La France, la CSCE et les deux Allemagne", in Anne Kwaschik, Ulrich Pfeil (eds.), Die DDR in den deutsch-französischen Beziehungen, Brussels, Peter Lang, 2013.
BOOK REVIEWS
- For Slavic Review, vol. 79, 2020/1: Michael Cotey Morgan, The Final Act: The Helsinki Accords and the Transformation of the Cold War, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2018.
- For Relations internationales, n°178, 2019/2: Georges-Henri Soutou, La guerre froide de la France, 1941-1990, Paris, Tallandier, 2018.
- For Cahiers de la Méditerranée, n°93, Nice, December 2016: Frédéric Bozo, Histoire secrète de la crise irakienne. La France, les Etats-Unis et l'Irak, 1991-2003, Paris, Perrin, 2013.
- For Cahiers de la Méditerranée, n°91, Nice, December 2015: Houda Ben Hamouda, Mathieu Bouchard (dir.), La construction d'un espace euro-méditerranéen. Genèses, mythes et perspectives, Brussels, P.I.E Peter Lang, 2012.
- For Cahiers de la Méditerranée, n°85, Nice, 2013: Emmanuel Godin, Natalya Vince (dir.), France and the Mediterranean. International Relations, Culture and Politics, Modern French Identities series, vol.86, Bern, Peter Lang, 2012.
SECONDARY SCHOOL TEXTBOOK
- Chapters on "The Cold War" and "From the Colonies to the Newly Independent States", Histoire- Géographie-Éducation civique, classe de 3e, Paris, Lelivrescolaire.fr, 2012
CONFERENCES AND STUDY DAYS
- "La CSCE, instrument de la confrontation et outil du dépassement des asymétries européennes", colloquium L'Europe au XXe siècle - Une Europe asymétrique. The Cold War, University of Luxembourg, 11 December 2019.
- Relaxation or human rights? Le dilemme éthique de la France face au renouveau de la guerre froide". Paper presented at the colloquium L'année 1979 dans les relations internationales: la stratégie contre l'éthique? 17 and 18 October 2019, Université Paul-Valéry de Montpellier.
- Rethinking European Security. France, The Europeans and the Future of the CSCE at the End of the Cold War". Paper presented at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, 20-22 June 2019, Arlington, Virginia, USA.
"Pairs et impairs chez les Occidentaux: de Gaulle and the military leaders of NATO", study day
De Gaulle and his military peers, Service historique de la Défense, Château de Vincennes, 14 October
- Cold War strategy or Euro-Arab partnership? The "People's Democracies" and the Maghreb from 1973 to 1982". Paper presented at the conference Marges impériales en dialogue. Échanges, transferts, interactions et influences croisés entre les espaces post-coloniaux francophones et la périphérie soviétique européenne dans la seconde moitié du XXe siècle, 30-31 May 2019, University of Pécs, Hungary.
- Du bon usage diplomatique des sociétés civiles. The CSCE: a turning point for Europe, a model for the Mediterranean". Paper presented at the colloquium Faire de la politique (extérieure) sans en avoir l'air. Les dispositifs à destination des "sociétés civiles" étrangères, 21-23 March 2018, IEP d'Aix-en- Provence/CHERPA.
- When the Cold War turns polar. The Arctic in the East-West conflict". Presentation at the Journée géopolitique des espaces maritimes: l'océan Arctique, 19 October 2017, Université Bretagne- Sud, Lorient.
- "'Détente, entente, dégustation'. The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) or the Cold War around the table, 1973-1975". Paper presented at the colloquium Table et Diplomatie du Moyen-Âge à nos jours, 3-5 November 2016, Paris.
- "Franco-German Relations, European Security and Disarmament Issues in the Era of Ostpolitik, 1969- 1974". Paper presented at the colloquium The Franco-German Duo and Nuclear Deterrence, 30 June - 2 July 2016, Lorient, Université de Bretagne-Sud/NPIHP/ICEE.
- "The Eastern Mediterranean, a stake in the Cold War". Speech at the Journée géopolitique des espaces maritimes: la Méditerranée orientale, 14 October 2016, Université Bretagne-Sud, Lorient.
- The "Helsinki Spirit" since 1975: From the Cold War to the Challenges of the 21st Century. Paper presented at The Lessons of the Helsinki Process for the Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative and the Trust Process on the Korean Peninsula, organised by the Korean Society of Contemporary European Studies, Seoul, 27 November 2015.
- "The French vision of the CSCE: the Helsinki Process as an Instrument for East-West Convergence", Stresemann Workshop 2015: Illusionary Visions or Policy Options? Discontent over Cold War Security Architecture in Europe and the Search for Alternatives, organised by the Universities of Mainz and Würzburg, the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Mainz, 5-8 July 2015.
- "Les enjeux géostratégiques maritimes de la France", study day Geopolitics of maritime spaces, University of Bretagne-Sud, Lorient, 17 October 2014.
- Détente and Mésentente. France, the USSR, and the CSCE". Paper presented at the colloquium France, the USSR, and the End of the Cold War, 1975-1991, organised by Marie-Pierre Rey and Frédéric Bozo, Universités Paris 1 et Paris 3, January 2014.
- "The French Intellectuals, Détente, and the Issue of Human Rights in the Soviet Bloc during the 1970s", colloquium Origins and Impact of Détente, organised by Ducco Hellema, Jacco Pekelder and Friso Wielenga, University of Münster (Germany), April 2013.
- Georges Pompidou and the Eastern bloc. La vision française de la détente de 1969 à 1974", Enjeux de sécurité et problématique centre-périphérie en Europe, colloquium organised by Elisabeth du Réau and Ferenc Gazdac, Budapest, May 2010.
- France and the Origins of the Helsinki Process, 1963-1973", 2009 Graduate Conference on the Cold War, directed by Odd Arne Westad, London School of Economics (LSE) - George Washington University (Washington D.C) - University of California, London, April 2009.
SEMINARS
- Diplomacy and European societies at the end of the Cold War: the Helsinki process", seminar
Political and cultural circulations between 'Western' and 'Eastern' Europe, Université Paris Diderot, 27 November 2019.
- "The CSCE and the End of the Cold War", The Historical International Studies Research Cluster, organised by Sarah B. Snyder, American University, Washington D.C, 11 December 2018.
- "The CSCE and the End of the Cold War", Washington History Seminar, organised by Christian Ostermann and Eric Arnesen, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington D.C, 10 December 2018.
- Panorama du monde contemporain" lecture, 109th IHEDN Youth Cycle, Camp de Carpiagne, Marseille, 3 September 2018.
- "Franco-German relations since 1945", speech at the seminar for European Commission interpreters organised by the Deux Coquelicots association, Port-Louis, 3 July 2015.
- "La politique de la France à l'égard du processus d'Helsinki et ses conséquences dans le domaine culturel", seminar Circulations politiques et culturelles entre l'Europe "de l'Ouest" et l'Europe "de l'Est" au XXe siècle, organised by Sophie Cœuré, Université Denis Diderot - Paris 7, November 2012.
- "France, détente and the Mediterranean in the 1970s: between influence and vigilance", seminar of the Centre de la Méditerranée moderne et contemporaine, organised by Silvia Marzagalli, University of Nice, February 2012.
POPULARISATION/CONFERENCES FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC
- Round table "Governing Europe 'from the Atlantic to the Urals'. France, the end of the Cold War and the Charter of Paris", 23rd rendez-vous de l'histoire, Blois, 9 October 2020.
- Round table "USSR, the endgame, 1985-1991. Des réformes gorbatchéviennes à la disparition de l'homo sovieticus", organised by Marie-Pierre Rey, around the book by Svetlana Alexievitch, La fin de l'homme rouge ou le temps du désenchantement and its theatrical adaptation by Emmanuel Meirieu, Théâtre de la Criée, Marseille, 12 October 2019.
- Cold War? From yesterday to today: ruptures and continuities", Montaigne Lectures, Bordeaux Montaigne University, 3 October 2019.
- Talk on "Cuba, the USSR and the end of the Cold War", based on the film Sergio et Sergeï, by Ernesto Daranas, Festival Nouv.O.Monde de Rousset - Pays d'Aix, 17 March 2019.
- Conference "The historical roots of Russian foreign policy", organised by the Institut du Monde Russe et de l'Asie Centrale (IMRAC) of the IEP Aix-en-Provence, 3 December 2018.
- Conference on "The French in the Great War", La Roquebrussanne (Var), 28 September 2018.
- Conference "Mai 68 au regard de l'histoire", La Roquebrussanne (Var), 15 June 2018.
- Conference "The Vietnam War, a turning point in the contemporary history of the United States", La Roquebrussanne (Var), 2 February 2018.
- Conference "The French in the Great War", Lançon de Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône), 14 November 2017.
- Conference "Beyond the Iron Curtain. France, the Soviet Union and the Helsinki agreements, 1965-1985", University of Nantes (CRHIA), 29 March 2017.
- Conference-discussion on "the end of history", around the play Fin de l'histoire by Christophe Honoré, Grand Théâtre de Lorient, 13 October 2015.
- "Français et Allemands depuis 1945: relations et regards croisés", conference-discussion with Elisabeth du Réau and Christian Wenkel, organised by the City of Lorient, 7 May 2015.
ORGANISATION OF SCIENTIFIC EVENTS
- Scientific and material organisation of the colloquium "The Franco-German Duo and Nuclear Deterrence", 30 June - 2 July 2016, Lorient, Université de Bretagne-Sud, in partnership with the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project (NHPPI) of the Wilson Center (Washington D.C.) and the ICEE of the Sorbonne Nouvelle.
- Scientific and material organisation of the conference "Helsinki 40 Years After: International Reordering and Societal Change, 1975-1990", 10-12 December 2015, Paris, Université de Bretagne-Sud, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Université Paris-Diderot, Sciences Po, INALCO.
- Material organisation of the symposium directed by Marie-Pierre Rey and Frédéric Bozo, "France and the German Question, 1945-1990", 7, 8 and 9 February 2013, Paris, Universités Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle and Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, Institut Historique Allemand.
- Scientific and material organisation of the conference "Eastern European countries and the Mediterranean. Relations et regards croisés, 1967-1989", 2 and 3 February 2012, Paris, Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne.
- Material organisation of the study day directed by Marie-Pierre Rey and Frédéric Bozo, "L'unification allemande vingt ans après : le temps des historiens", 15 November 2010, Paris, Universités Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle et Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, Institut Historique Allemand.
- Material organisation of the conference directed by Marie-Pierre Rey and Frédéric Bozo, "Overcoming the Iron Curtain. Visions of the End of the Cold War in Europe, 1945-1990", Paris, 12, 13 and 14 June 2008, Universités Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle et Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne.
THESIS JURIES
- Sophie Gueudet, Bridges on the Drina: History, modalities and outcomes of the bilateral cooperations between Serbia and Republika Srpska (1995-2016), under the supervision of Walter Bruyère-Ostells, defended on 23 January 2020 at the IEP Aix-en-Provence.
- Pascal Madonna, Les volontaires français dans les guerres de Ygoslavie de 1991 à 1995, under the supervision of Walter Bruyère-Ostells, defended on 1 July 2019 at IEP Aix-en-Provence.
SELECTION COMMITTEES
- Member of the selection committee for a lectureship in contemporary history at the IEP Aix-en-Provence, 2020.
- Member of the selection committee for a lectureship in North American civilisation at the University of Angers, 2016.