Geopolitics of desire
Presented by Patrick Savidan, philosopher, jury member
David Colon, professor at Sciences Po
Thierry Balzacq, political scientist
Speaking of "geopolitics of desire" would no doubt have made people smile or been bewildering a decade or two ago. Should one indeed understand by this that desire would have a geography, would vary according to latitudes as it has varied according to historical periods, and would sometimes be "political" – which is not incongruous, since "doing politics" cannot exclude neither will, nor engagement nor aspiration. But is it not rather geopolitics that would be, like a great wind, traversed, shaken and recomposed by desire? Once the geopolitical landscape was shaped by strategists, secret service agents, foreign ministers, Presidents, generals, diplomats, shadow cabinets and other obscure advisers. But now? Is it enough that the anger of a community rumbles, or even that an autocrat gets out of bed on the wrong side in the morning, rushes to X, expresses their desires, their wishes, even their whims there, to alter the balance of the world?
Robert Maggiori
