The UN and the interplay of powers between stage and backstage: from the multilateral dream to contemporary fractures.

An original lecture by Romuald SCIORA, a political scientist specializing in the UN and associate researcher at IRIS, organized by Inalco's Com2i program and the SIO-IP, as part of the business lecture series.
Portrait de Romuald SCIORA
Portrait de Romuald SCIORA © DR‎

This conference, conceived as a particular approach to multilateral diplomacy, will present Romuald Sciora's analysis of the UN, in its political and communicational workings, over the long term and in its relationship with the powers that are its members. It will also be an opportunity to look back on his career, and in particular his work as a documentary filmmaker who has carried out a long period of observations and interviews inside the Organization.

About the speaker

Associate researcher at the Institute and director of its Observatoire politique et géostratégique des États-Unis, Romuald Sciora is a Franco-American essayist, political scientist and documentary filmmaker. Born in 1970 and living in the United States, this specialist in international relations is the author of four books on the United Nations - two of which were co-published by the Organization itself - and a short essay on the UN General Assembly recently published in Le Monde diplomatique. As a documentary filmmaker, he has made over a dozen political films, including a TV series dedicated to the UN broadcast in over twenty countries. He is also the only person to have interviewed, on several occasions, the last five Secretaries-General of the United Nations. From 2011 to 2016, he chaired the French-American Global Forum, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. In this capacity, he co-organized and moderated numerous symposia with the European Union, research centers such as CSIS and the Brookings Institution, and leading media such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, Newsweek and Foreign Affairs. After working for several years with American University and New York University, he is now a consultant for various international organizations and an associate member of the Chaire Raoul-Dandurand at the Université du Québec à Montréal. He appears weekly in the global media, from Europe to the Middle East, to comment on international news.

French-language bibliography

  • America 250. A graphic history of the United States. 1. Born in blood. Conceived and written by Romuald Sciora, drawings and colors by Bastien Bertine, Point Nemo, April 2026
  • L'Amérique éclatée, Armand Colin, 2025.
  • Should we be afraid of wokism? Armand Colin, 2023
  • Femme vaillante, Michaëlle Jean en Francophonie, CIDIHCA, 2021
  • Poor John, COVID-19 America as seen by an insider, Max Milo, 2020
  • Who wants the UN dead?, co-authored with Anne-Cécile Robert, Eyrolles, 2018

The conference will be moderated by Mylène Hardy, Senior Lecturer, Inalco (Com2i).