Blandine Kriegel (born 1 December 1943) is a French philosopher, political scientist, and professor. Throughout her career, Kriegel has been president of the , advisor to

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as Ma ...

and member of the

Comité consultatif national d'éthique The ''Comité Consultatif National d'Ethique'' is a French governmental advisory council on bioethics issues. It was created by a presidential decree of François Mitterrand in 1983. See also * National Commission for the Protection of Human Subj ...

. Kriegel was furthermore assistant to

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how ...

at the Collège de France.

Early life and education

Kriegel was born in

Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; literally 'Neuilly on Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is a commune in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in France, just west of Paris. Immediately adjacent to the city, the area is composed of mostly select residentia ...

on 1 December 1943. She is the daughter of the

resistance fighter A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objectives ...

, jurist and

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

deputy

Maurice Kriegel-Valrimont Maurice Kriegel-Valrimont (14 May 1914 – 2 August 2006) was a militant communist who took part in the French Resistance during the Second World War, and a French politician. Along with General Leclerc and Henri Rol-Tanguy, he accepted the surr ...

and the resistance fighter Paulette Lesouëf de Brévillier, the niece of the historian and resistance fighter Annie Kriegel and the cousin of the journalist and writer Danièle Kriegel. In 1967, Kriegel joined the Union des jeunesses communistes marxistes-léninistes. She obtained the of philosophy in 1968 and became a philosophy teacher at the Amiens high school. She broke with political commitment in 1970.

Career

Kriegel became a research associate at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in 1978. Kriegel broke with Marxism with the publication of her work ('The state and the slaves') in 1979. She completed her philosophy thesis at the University of Lyon under the direction of . President

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

entrusted her with a mission on the modernization of the state in 1984, which would give rise to various publications. In 1994, Kriegel became a professor at the Paris Nanterre University. In 2002, Kriegel chaired the mission of evaluation, analysis and proposals relating to violent representations on television, which submitted a report to the Minister of Culture

Jean-Jacques Aillagon Jean-Jacques Aillagon (born 2 October 1946, Metz) is a French politician, a close confidant of Jacques Chirac and member of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) political party. From 1972 to 1976 he was a high school teacher in the Corrèze ...

. His conclusions were not appreciated by "the post-'68 press", in the words of

Alain Finkielkraut Alain Finkielkraut (, ; ; born 30 June 1949) is a French philosopher and public intellectual. He has written books and essays on a wide range of topics, many on the ideas of tradition and identitary nonviolence, including Jewish identity and ant ...

. Kriegel was appointed president of the in October 2002. She also worked to introduce French speakers to the intellectual movement called the Cambridge School. Six years later, in 2008, she was promoted to

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

of the Order of the Legion of Honour. In 2011, in ('The Republic and the Modern Prince'), Kriegel suggested that the first true "republican" revolution in Europe was that of the Netherlands, through the that the northern states drafted to proclaim the fall of King

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...

. This revolution would have, according to her, anticipated two centuries in advance that of the United States of America in 1776 and of France in 1789. From 2012 to 2018, she was a member of the Committee for Prefectural History.

Political commitments

After having been close to the Socialist Party, in 1995, Kriegel supported the candidacy of Jacques Chirac in the presidential election. She is furthermore opposed to positive discrimination but a member of the sponsorship committee of the Marianne de la diversité foundation.

Honours

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kriegel, Blandine Living people 1943 births Scientists from Neuilly-sur-Seine Writers from Neuilly-sur-Seine French political scientists French women philosophers French political philosophers 20th-century French philosophers 21st-century French philosophers University of Lyon alumni Commanders of the Legion of Honour French socialists Foucault scholars