Division or Solidarity In Times of Lockdown

Online International Debate on 28 January 7 pm - 9.30 pm (Paris time)

While we know that the lockdown unveiled and increased societal inequalities, we also witnessed the emergence of unexpected solidarity movements. To better understand these phenomena and their possible development, we must examine them in depth.

Social groups and individuals have always moved, more or less permanently. These moves, in all their diversity over time and space, feature many motives, trajectories, and repercussions – hence the imperative to analyse them with an equally multifaceted focus. The numerous research projects conducted at Sciences Po, particularly within the Migration and Diversity group, reflect this and seek to develop new approaches. This dossier presents an overview of their insights:

Research ranking

In the 2020 Times Higher Education World University Rankings in social science, Sciences Po ranks 68th globally and 2nd nationally.

Our strengths lie in our internationalization and the citations of our researchers' publications, two indicators in which we have progressed from last year.

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In 2020, Sciences Po welcomed eight new members to its permanent faculty. Eight researchers who, each in their own field of expertise, open doors to new knowledge for our research and our teaching. These new thinkers strengthen our research units, irrigate our courses, and reinforce Sciences Po's presence in public debate. Discover their bios!

Christophe Jaffrelot, Centre Nationale de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Research Director at the Centre de recherches internationales de Sciences Po (CERI), has just been elected the President of the French Political Science Association (AFSP). The opening of this chapter provides an opportunity to revisit the mission of this association, which was established by Sciences Po in 1949.

CIVICA – The European University of Social Sciences has received funding to strengthen its research dimension from the EU’s programme Horizon 2020, under the chapter “Science with and for Society.” 

The pandemic – analysed in this issue in terms of some of its social aspects – has not eclipsed the more serious and long-lasting issue of environmental degradation, to which several articles are devoted. Other key issues – artificial intelligence, otherness, and savings – are also explored, offering new perspectives on current events. Research with an international scope, combining economics, political science, and sociology, is also presented. The issue culminates in a painful story that resonates today more than ever: that of the end of slavery. Enjoy the read!

5 June 2020 has marked a very sad anniversary: our colleague and friend, Fariba Adelkhah, a researcher at Sciences Po’s Centre for International Studies, has now been imprisoned without motive in Iran for one year.

For one year she has fought with courage, tenacity and unfailing dignity, deserving of our utmost admiration.

It is not the current health crisis that is making us realise the precariousness of women and domestic violence. These problems – like so many others – have long been known. This issue addresses areas that are rarely analysed: the negative consequences of some purportedly egalitarian and scientific policies, the geopolitics of gender, the impact of climate change on women’s lives, the paradoxical aspects of marital relations, and factors of persistence in educational and professional inequalities.