Hélène Carrère d'Encausse (; born Hélène Zourabichvili; 6 July 1929) is a French political historian of Georgian origin, specializing in

Russian history The history of Russia begins with the histories of the East Slavs. The traditional start-date of specifically Russian history is the establishment of the Rus' people, Rus' state in the north in 862, ruled by Varangians. Staraya Ladoga and Veli ...

. Since 1999, she has served as the Perpetual Secretary of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

, to which she was first

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

in 1990. Carrère d'Encausse was a

member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

between 1994 and 1999, representing the

Gaullist Gaullism (french: link=no, Gaullisme) is a French political stance based on the thought and action of World War II French Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle, who would become the founding President of the Fifth French Republic. De Gaulle withd ...

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

party RPR. She was awarded the

Lomonosov Gold Medal The Lomonosov Gold Medal (russian: Большая золотая медаль имени М. В. Ломоносова ''Bol'shaya zolotaya medal' imeni M. V. Lomonosova''), named after Russian scientist and polymath Mikhail Lomonosov, is awarde ...

and Grand Cross with Star of the

Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland The Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Order Zasługi Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej) is a Polish order of merit created in 1974, awarded to persons who have rendered great service to Poland. It is granted to foreigners or Poles resident ab ...

in 2008 and 2011, respectively. She is a cousin of

Salome Zourabichvili Salome Zourabichvili ( ka, სალომე ზურაბიშვილი, ; born 18 March 1952) is a Franco-Georgian political figure and former diplomat who currently serves as the fifth President of Georgia, in office since December 2018 ...

, the current

President of Georgia President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Family and career

Carrère d'Encausse was born Hélène Zourabichvili in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

into a family of

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

émigrés. She is a cousin of

, the current

. Her son,

Emmanuel Carrère Emmanuel Carrère (born 9 December 1957) is a French author, screenwriter and film director. Life Family Carrère was born into a wealthy family in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. His father, Louis Carrère d'Encausse, is a retired insuranc ...

(born 1957), is a French author, screenwriter and director. Carrère d'Encausse graduated from

Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public research university''Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , accreditation ...

and was elected to seat 14 of the Académie française in 1990, later becoming the Académie's Perpetual Secretary in 1999. Her academician's sword was made by a Franco-Georgian sculptor Goudji.

Russian scholarship

The bulk of Carrère d'Encausse's work has been on Russia and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. She has had over two dozen books published in French, many of which have been translated into English. Her 1978 work ''L'empire éclaté: La révolte des nations en U.R.S.S'' (English version, ''Decline of an Empire: The Soviet Socialist Republics in Revolt'') predicted that the Soviet Union was destined to break up along the lines of its 15 constituent republics. In commenting on current Russian affairs, Carrère d'Encausse has warned against applying Western yardsticks to Russian democracy and has said that she regrets the "excessive diabolization" of the regime of

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

Controversy

In 2005, Carrère d'Encausse joined other French politicians in identifying

polygamy Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married ...

as one of the causes of the 2005 civil unrest in France. During an interview given to the Russian television channel

NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Televis ...

, she claimed:

Why can't their parents buy an apartment? It's clear why. Many of these Africans, I tell you, are polygamous. In an apartment, there are three or four wives and 25 children.

These and similar remarks by others, including

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

and Bernard Accoyer, were disputed by the antiracist group

MRAP Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP; ) is a term for United States Armed Forces, United States military light tactical vehicles produced as part of the MRAP program that are designed specifically to withstand improvised explosive device (IE ...

, which blamed the unrest on French racism.

Honours

* : Commander of the Order of Cultural Merit (November 1999)Sovereign Ordonnance n° 14.274 du 18 Novembre 1999 portant promotions
Legimonaco.mc (in French). Retrieved 8 May 2020.

References

Bibliography

* 1963 ''Réforme et révolution chez les musulmans de l'Empire russe'' (Armand Colin) * 1966 ''Le Marxisme et l'Asie (avec Stuart R. Schram), 1853-1964'' (Armand Colin) * 1967 ''Central Asia, a century of Russian rule, Columbia Univ., réédition 1990'' (Duke Univ. publication) * 1969 ''L'URSS et la Chine devant la révolution des sociétés pré-industrielles (avec Stuart R. Schram)'' (Armand Colin) * 1972 ''L'Union soviétique de Lénine à Staline'' (Éd. Richelieu) * 1975 ''La Politique soviétique au Moyen-Orient, 1955-1975'' (Presses de la F.N.S.P.) * 1978 ''L'Empire éclaté'' (Flammarion) * 1979 ''Lénine, la Révolution et le Pouvoir'' (Flammarion) * 1979 ''Staline, l'ordre par la terreur'' (Flammarion) * 1980 ''Le Pouvoir confisqué'' (Flammarion) * 1982 ''Le Grand Frère'' (Flammarion) * 1985 ''La déstalinisation commence'' (Complexe) * 1986 ''Ni paix ni guerre'' (Flammarion) * 1987 ''Le Grand Défi'' (Flammarion) * 1988 ''Le Malheur russe'' (Fayard) * 1990 ''La Gloire des Nations'' (Fayard) * 1992 ''Victorieuse Russie'' (Fayard) * 1993 ''L'URSS, de la Révolution à la mort de Staline'' (Le Seuil) * 1996 ''Nicolas II, La transition interrompue'' (Fayard) * 1998 ''Lénine'' (Fayard) * 2000 ''La Russie inachevée'' (Fayard) * 2002 ''Catherine II'' (Fayard) * 2003 ''L'Impératrice et l'abbé : un duel littéraire inédit'' (Fayard) * 2005 ''L'Empire d'Eurasie'' (Fayard)

External links

*
Home page at the Académie française
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrere dEncausse, Helene 1929 births Living people Writers from Paris Sciences Po alumni 20th-century French historians Members of the Académie Française Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Arts Central Asian studies scholars French people of Georgian descent French people of Russian descent Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite Commanders with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland Commanders of the Order of Cultural Merit (Monaco) Commandeurs of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques Recipients of the Lomonosov Gold Medal Zourabichvili family