Paris Perspective

Paris Perspective looks at the battlefield of the upcoming European elections, where the centrist majority must navigate the rocky terrain of a younger electorate that's being courted by the far right.  While the polls have been described as a time of reckoning for Europe given the rise of the far right, it's unlikely the centrist conservative majority will be knocked off pole position. The main b...

In this edition of Paris Perspective, we look at the recent conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the ethnic cleansing of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave and France's influence in the Caucasus. At the beginning of November, Germany insisted that European mediation was the best option for Armenia and Azerbaijan to reach a lasting peace agreement. The Caucasus neighbours have been locked in a decade...

This edition of Paris Perspective looks at the concept of Françafrique  and the collapse of French influence in its former colonies. What have been the catalysts for the successive coup d’états in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Niger and Gabon over the past three years? The domino effect of Sahel states falling into the hands of military juntas over the past three years has been particularly alarming...

In this edition of Paris Perspective, we look at energy transition, the future of France’s atomic energy grid and President Emmanuel Macron’s political promise of a nuclear renaissance. One year ago, as President Macron was readying himself for the campaign trail that would lead to his re-election, he gave an address in the city of Belfort – an historically industrial town in eastern France – exto...

In this edition of Paris Perspective, we delve into the roller-coaster world of cryptocurrencies, the Wild West of the Web3 revolution, and ask what we can expect in the brave new world of unregulated trading in virtual money. Last year was a tough one for cryptocurrencies. Looking at how decentralised financial markets performed over the last 12 months was like watching the electrocardiogram of a...

This edition of Paris Perspective looks at the legacy of the Kyoto Protocol on the 25th anniversary of what was, in effect, the first legally binding international agreement on reducing greenhouse gases. On 11 December 1997, the first international agreement of its kind – the Kyoto Protocol – was signed. It aimed to cut the amout of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and, in doing so, reduce the num...

This edition of Paris Perspective looks at the outcome of the US midterm elections, asking why a Republican "red wave" failed to emerge, and examining the potential of American socialism ahead of the 2024 presidential face-off. In the United States, midterm elections are seen as a referendum on how the incumbent's administration is doing, and it is rare that a sitting president comes out unscathed...

In this edition we’re going to dive into the political Twilight Zone that is British politics to examine how the post-Brexit roller-coaster ride has evolved and expanded into a full-blown theme park as the UK installs its fifth prime minister in six years. Many political observers have compared the implosion of the recent slew of Conservative UK governments to the antics of a tin-pot banana republ...

This edition of Paris Perspective looks at what France needs to do to achieve its carbon-neutral goals by 2050. Is it possible to decarbonise the country's supply chains from A to Z, while facing ever more challenging economic and logistic hurdles?   Remember the global rush to buy toilet paper? At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the fragility of the world's supply chains was laid bare as...

In this edition of Paris Perspective, RFI's David Coffey meets former UK foreign secretary and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband, to discuss the crises the world is facing in 2022 and what his NGO is doing to help millions of refugees and internally displaced. Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine has sent grain prices sky-rocketing and further highlighted the fragility of the su...

This edition of Paris Perspective looks at Turkey’s role within NATO and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s balancing act between Moscow, Kyiv and the Western military alliance. The role of Turkey's authoritarian president Erdogan as a potential mediator in the Ukraine crisis has been under the spotlight ever since Russia first invaded its neighbour. As a key Black Sea power that controls the shippi...

Paris Perspective looks at the state of peace in the world in 2022 on the occasion of the publication of the 16th Global Peace Index. Steve Killelea is the founder and executive chairman of the Institute for Economics and Peace, which publishes the Index. The 16 th edition of the Global Peace Index was published this week. Data from the Index shows that, on a world-wide scale, military spending ha...

On 29 May, 1942, the Nazi occupation of Northern France banned Jews from appearing in public without wearing a yellow star on their left breast. Paris Perspective looks back at this dark period in French history, while taking the temperature of the current situation regarding anti-Semitism in France and the political affiliations that represent the Jewish community. Eighty years ago, French Jews o...

Paris Perspective looks at what Iran's history of Western sanctions can tell us about similar meaures against Moscow, and whether embargos on Russian oil and gas can ever succeed in ending President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. The European Union recently announced a sixth sanctions package against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine in February. However, Moscow hopes to split EU res...

As France heads to the polls this Sunday for the second round of the presidential election, with incumbent Emmanuel Macron facing a strong challenge from far-right contender Marine Le Pen, Paris Perspective looks at the rise of populism in France and how it might effect international relations, particularly with the United States.  Since the beginning of Putin's war  in Ukraine, NATO, the transatl...

With only a few days to go before approximately 48 million registered voters are invited to cast their ballot in France’s first round of presidential elections, Paris Perspective looks at the polemics that have shaped the campaign trails to date and the probabilities of the outcome of round one on Sunday 10 April.  In the final days ahead of France's first round of presidential elections, all 12 c...

This edition of Paris Perspective looks at the implications of Russia’s decision to invade a neutral, sovereign European democracy, and at the likely impact of Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine on the future of peace on the continent.  What is Russian President Vladimir Putin's endgame? From the war with Georgia over South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008, to the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the rec...

The past decade has witnessed a tsunami of refugees fleeing conflict, making the journey towards Europe in search of a better life. Reaching its peak in 2015, the welcome refugees received was mixed, as fears of Islamist infiltration permeated the anti-migrant debate. The result was a the rise of populist movements across the EU. Paris Perspective looks at exile, Islam and the shifting sands of mi...

It seems that every move Russian President Vladimir Putin makes has Western powers ever more perplexed as to what his intentions are when it comes to Ukraine. As French president Emmanuel Macron embarks on a diplomatic mission to Moscow and Kyiv, Paris Perspective looks at what's at stake amid the standoff between the Kremlin and its Cold War adversaries, and if France can deliver a solution.  Fol...

With just two months to go before presidential elections in France, the media swingometer continually points to a concrete shift to the right. On this end of the political spectrum, candidates are rallying the electorate with identical battle cries: more security on the streets and playing hard on immigration. Paris Perspective looks into the issues that matter most to the French electorate.  Fran...

France has taken over the presidency of the Council of the European Union for the first time in 13 years. Under a banner of "relaunch, strength, belonging", President Emmanuel Macron will have to find common ground across the 27 member states on several key issues. Paris Perspective looks at what France will put on the table between now and the end of June. France took over the revolving presidenc...

France's influence in the Indo-Pacific came under the spotlight this autumn when a Franco-Australian submarine contract was dropped by Canberra in favour of a security alliance between the US, UK, and Australia: AUKUS. This edition of Paris Perspective looks at France's overtures towards allies in its former colonial neighbourhood and the state of relations between Paris and Beijing. The poor hand...

The transatlantic friendship is still on shaky ground almost a year after Joe Biden swept to power with the promise of stamping out four years of vitriol from the Trump presidency. Paris Perspective probes why the Franco-US honeymoon was so quickly extinguished, and what steps are being taken to repair the centuries-old alliance. During a time when new alliances and friendships are being forged, F...

High-end goods are more than fancy purses and jewellery. They're a powerful diplomatic tool and an instrument of soft power that contributes to the international reach of world powers. With France's "great houses" leading the aristocracy of luxury, Paris Perspective looks into the actions and strategies employed by luxury brands in promoting their countries of origin.  From time immemorial, the us...