Renaud Girard, born 25 May 1955 in New York City, is a French journalist and writer. He studied at the Ecole Normale Supérieure and the Ecole Nationale d'Administration. He has worked as a war correspondent and written books about the Middle East,

geopolitics Geopolitics (from Greek γῆ ''gê'' "earth, land" and πολιτική ''politikḗ'' "politics") is the study of the effects of Earth's geography (human and physical) on politics and international relations. While geopolitics usually refers to ...

and

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

. He is an advocate of

political realism Realism is one of the dominant schools of thought in international relations theory, theoretically formalising the Realpolitik statesmanship of early modern Europe. Although a highly diverse body of thought, it is unified by the belief that wor ...

. One of his concepts is that of the "principal enemy" (''ennemi principal''), which constitutes a hierarchy of political priorities. For example, in the Syrian Civil War, he considers the principal enemy to be

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

jihadists, which makes it acceptable to seek alliances with

Shi'a Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...

Islamist groups such as

Hezbollah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...

. Another concept he uses is that of "blatant evil" (''mal flagrant''), which creates distinctions between different dictatorships. A dictatorship may be deserving of strong criticism, but at the same time not legitimize mass murder or strive for unlimited expansion, in which case it can not be considered as blatantly evil. This is exemplified by the regimes of

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

and

Bashar al-Assad Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...

. On the other hand,

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

are examples which Girard regards as blatantly evil. Girard is very critical of the

neoconservative Neoconservatism is a political movement that began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist foreign policy of the Democratic Party and with the growing New Left and coun ...

movement and its doctrine of trying to impose democracy on other countries by force. He has argued that the United States under

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

prioritized

democracy in Iraq Democracy for the government of Iraq has been a long sought after goal by politicians, activists, and revolutionaries. It is considered to be a new, "fledgeling process" or phenomenon in Iraq, commonly afflicted by corruption, civil and ethnic con ...

over the prospect of peace, which only lead to failure and took the country further from democracy than it was when the operation began.

Bibliography

* ''Pourquoi ils se battent ? : Voyage dans les guerres du Moyen-Orient'', éditions Flammarion, 2005 ,

Prix Montyon The Montyon Prize (french: Prix Montyon) is a series of prizes awarded annually by the French Academy of Sciences and the Académie française. They are endowed by the French benefactor Baron de Montyon. History Prior to the start of the French ...

from 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 ...

* ''La guerre ratée d'Israël contre le Hezbollah'', éditions Perrin, 2006 * ''Retour à Peshawar'',

éditions Grasset The Grasset Editions () is a French publishing house founded in 1907 by (1881–1955). History Founder In 1913, Bernard Grasset publishes the first volume of ''À la recherche du temps perdu'', by Marcel Proust, '' Du côté de chez Swann'', ...

, 2010 * ''Le Monde en marche'',

CNRS Éditions The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,63 ...

, 2014 * ''

Que reste-t-il de l'occident ? ''Que reste-t-il de l'occident ?'' () is a 2014 book by the French writers Régis Debray and Renaud Girard. It consists of a discussion about the current state of the Western world and Western identity. Synopsis Régis Debray, a left-wing philoso ...

'', with

Régis Debray Jules Régis Debray (; born 2 September 1940) is a French philosopher, journalist, former government official and academic. He is known for his theorization of mediology, a critical theory of the long-term transmission of cultural meaning in hum ...

, 2014 * ''Le monde en guerre. 50 clefs pour le comprendre'', Carnets Nord / éditions Montparnasse, 2016.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Girard, Renaud 1955 births 20th-century French journalists 21st-century French journalists 21st-century French writers Critics of neoconservatism École nationale d'administration alumni École Normale Supérieure alumni French male non-fiction writers French war correspondents Geopoliticians Journalists from New York City Living people Writers from New York City