On Friday, May 3, the Paris campus of Sciences Po was once again evacuated. Political scientist and international relations specialist Bertrand Badie, who taught there for over 50 years, believes that the path of repression is not the right one. In his view, we should not overlook the desire expressed by students to identify with international causes, however far away they be, and should see them as a "commitment," rather than immediately deeming them "extremist or radical."

I went with some trepidation, but it was a pleasant surprise. The students were extremely involved, completely calm, with no banners or demonstrations trying to disrupt the talks. It reminded me of the attentive lecture halls of yesteryear, where the questions asked by the students were never violent but always related to real subjects for debate.

In my speech, I pointed out that the nature of international conflicts had changed profoundly, and that the conflict now pitting a state against non-state actors takes on a connotation that defies classical war theory. These are conflicts of a new nature, marked by the stamp of the domination and humiliation that has been endured, as was the case with decolonization; they involve violent oppositions between participants who are not instituted – as is the case with Palestinian organizations – and which veer into forms of terrorist violence.

I drew a parallel with the Algerian War. In Philippeville [now called Skikda], in 1955, there were massacres of a similar horror to those in Sderot on October 7. This was followed by an equally bloody and indiscriminate repression that led not to the eradication of the FLN, but to its strengthening.

States are finding it hard to adapt to these new forms of conflict. The baton is being taken by social dynamics such as those we are currently witnessing on university campuses. In this respect, what's happening at Sciences Po is not isolated, but expresses this social appropriation of international issues, which today has a definite capacity to influence the very evolution of states' foreign policies, as we saw in the US with Vietnam, and as we are observing again today in the difficulties [US President Joe] Biden is facing.

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