Home>Stéphanie Balme
Stéphanie Balme
FNSP Research Professor, HDR, CERI Director
Center for International Studies (CERI)
Research Interest(s): China's Science Policies ; Science & Tech Diplomacy ; Deglobalization ; China-EU-US Relations
Discipline(s): Political Science, Law
Subdiscipline(s): International Relations, Political Sociology, Comparative Politics
Research Group(s): International order, foreign policy, diplomacy; Science, technology and power
Geographical Area(s): East Asia
Country(ies): China
Language(s): English, Chinese, Italian
Biography
Stéphanie Balme was elected Director of the CERI (Sciences Po/CNRS) at the end of 2023. Previously, she served as Dean of the Sciences Po Undergraduate College from 2018 to 2023. During her tenure, she collaborated with Nicolas Benvegnu to develop the Bachelor of Arts and Sciences (BASc) program at Sciences Po, which offers integrated dual training in the humanities and sciences.
She also strengthened the links between teaching and research, as well as regional programs. She joined the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a diplomat working on Franco-Chinese scientific cooperation based in Beijing (2018-2019). As a professor at the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) and Director of Research at the FNSP, she was appointed as the academic freedom officer in 2022. A founding member of the ESDI (European Science Diplomacy Initiative), established in 2020, Stéphanie Balme launched the courses on science diplomacy at Sciences Po, aimed at training future diplomats, policymakers, and journalists. She serves on several scientific and strategic councils, including those of IDDRI (Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations), IHEDN (Institute for Advanced Studies in National Defense), EURICS (European Institute of China Studies), as well as Springer Nature’s European scientific advisory board. She is also the vice-president of the ECLS (EU-China Law Studies Association) and member of Academia Europaea and of the International Advisory Board of the Humboldt Foundation.
Previously, she directed the research program “Law, Justice and Society in China” and was a research associate at the IHEJ (Institute for Advanced Studies on Justice) alongside Antoine Garapon for many years. Stéphanie undertook a mission for Sciences Po at the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 2003 to 2006, and then in Beijing at Tsinghua University (Law School) from 2006 to 2012. She also served as the China delegate for the Médecins du Monde Adoption Initiative (1996-1998), was in charge of the office for the Foundation for Continental Law (Civil Law Initiative 2010-2011), and worked as a university and scientific cooperation attaché at the French Embassy in Beijing (2017-2018).
Stéphanie Balme has taught at several institutions worldwide, including in Paris, Hong Kong, Beijing, New Delhi (Ashoka), Montreal (UQAM), Vancouver (UBC), and New York, where she was a Visiting Professor at Columbia University during the 2014-2015 academic year. She obtained her Habilitation in Law in 2016 and a PhD in Political Science under the supervision of Professor Guy Hermet in 2000.
She graduated from Sciences Po, INALCO, IEP Bordeaux, Fudan University (Shanghai), and the Faculty of Letters of Bordeaux. She received the 1998 Prize from the Chancellery of Paris Universities and the Montesquieu Prize in 2015 with Antoine Garapon, Daniel Schimmel, Li Bin, and Jean-Louis Langlois for the book “The Civil Trial in Original Version: Comparative Judicial Cultures: France, China, United States.”
Current Research
Stéphanie Balme is currently working on China’s scientific rise, science diplomacy, and the relations between the European Union, China, and the United States.
Teaching
Science, Power and the Power of Innovation in China, Introduction to Science Diplomacy, Science & Tech Diplomacy, Navigating the G3 (EU-US-China) dynamics
publications
"Une politique rationnelle et stratégique nous guide vers la continuité de coopérations ciblées avec la Chine", interview by Sarah Piovezan, AEF Info, 28 September 2026.
La sécurité au-delà de la puissance, with Mathias Delori, Esprit, July 2026.
Le laboratoire chinois de la science mondiale, Revue Défense Nationale, n°892, Summer 2026, pp.34-40.
Défendre et promouvoir la liberté académique. Un enjeu mondial, une urgence pour la France et l’Europe. Constats et 65 propositions d’action. Une étude pour France Universités, 15 October 2025.
Defending and promoting academic Freedom. A global issue, an urgent matter for France and Europe.Findings and proposals for action. Report for France Universités, 15 October 2025.
La liberté académique dans le monde et en France : un bien de première nécessité, The Conversation, 15 October 2025. English version
L’art de comprendre : quand la recherche dialogue avec la création, Global Challenges, Special Issue n°3, October 2025.
Perché Jinping ha bisogno di noi (europei), Formiche, October 2025.
Evolving Paradigms in Science and Tech Diplomacy, Global Challenges, n°17, May 2025.
The Silent Parallels of US-China Rivalry: A Clash of Power, Not Models, The SAIS Review of International Affairs, 4 April 2025
Academic freedom and democracy under siege: how a Nobel peace prize could help defend them, The Conversation, 5 March 2025.
Les réorientations stratégiques de la diplomatie scientifique en Indo-Pacifique, in Delphine Allès & Christophe Jaffrelot (dir.). L'indo-Pacifique, Presses de Sciences Po, L'Enjeu mondial, 2024.
It’s an altered world. But academic exchange remains vital (article collectif), University World News, 18 May 2024.
Chine : entre marxisme et high-tech, il faut choisir !, with avec Jean-Baptiste Monnier, Les Analyses du CERI, 27 October 2022.
Ukraine-Russie, la diplomatie scientifique à l’épreuve de la guerre. Les Dossiers du CERI, Dossier « Ukraine : la guerre de Poutine », April 2022.
Chine : un rêve d'hyperpuissance scientifique, with Pierre Lemonde (physicien, CNRS), La Recherche, n°557, March 2020.
Chine, les visages de la justice ordinaire, Paris, Presses de Sciences Po, 2016.
Chine : la règle de droit aux marges d'un empire bureaucratique et absolutiste (1978-2014), Revue française d'administration publique, n°15, 2014.
Avec Antoine Garapon, Li Bin et Daniel Schimmel, Le procès civil en version originale Cultures judiciaires comparées : France, Chine, Etats-Unis, Ebook, LexisNexis, Paris, September 2014 (prix du Cercle Montesquieu 2015).
La Tentation de la Chine. Idées reçues sur un pays en mutation, Paris, Le Cavalier bleu, 2013.
La justice pénale en Chine : son évolution et son avenir, Institut des hautes études sur la justice, 2012, 35p. (Analyse du projet de révision de la loi de procédure pénale par l’Assemblée nationale populaire de RPC).
Rule of Law as a Watermark: China’s Legal and Judicial Challenges, The World Bank Legal Review, Law and Justice in the World, n°3, 2012.
Local Courts in Western China: the Quest for Independance and Dignity, in R. Peerenboom (dir.) Judicial Independance in China: Lessons for Global Rule of Law Promotion, New York, Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp.154-179.
Building Constitutionalism in China, edited by S. Balme and M-W. Dowdle, New York, Palgrave Macmillan (Series in International Relations and Political Economy) 2009, 325 p.
Entre soi, l’élite du pouvoir dans la Chine contemporaine, Paris, Fayard (Collection l’espace du politique), 2004, 474 p.
See all publications on Sciences Po Institutional Repository