Michel Foucher

Director of Studies, The Institute for Higher National Defence Studies, France

Michel Foucher is a geographer, diplomat and essayist who was born in 1946. He obtained his PhD at Sorbonne University in 1986. Currently he is a Professor of geography and geopolitics at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (Paris Ulm). He has also been a lecturer at the College of Europe in Natolin, Warsaw (1994-2002), consultant to the European Commission, advisor to La Lyonnaise de Banque, mission leader for DATAR and advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (1998-2002), director of the Centre for Analysis and Policy Planning of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1999-2002) and French ambassador to Latvia (2002-2006). He is a member of the scientific committee of the Robert Schuman Foundation and, since February 2006, has been ambassador-at-large for EU affairs. He has written, directed or participated in some 20 works on geopolitical issues and cultural geography. His most influential work is undoubtedly “Fronts et frontières” (1988, 1991). He also edited two thought-provoking atlases, “Fragments d’Europe” (1998) and “Asies nouvelles” (2002). In 2009 he published the book L’ Europe et l’avenir du monde”.