Aymeric Chauprade (born 13 January 1969) is a French writer, political scientist and politician. He left the National Front on 9 November 2015, mostly for "moral and political" principles, to found Les Français Libres. A student and disciple of François Thual,Jean Sévillia, Le poids des civilisations dans l'histoire, Le Figaro, 6 February 2009. he is an advocate of realpolitik." Les frontières de l'Europe : pour un retour au réalisme géopolitique " Revue politique et parlementaire, no. 1036, July–August–September 2005, p. 116. He was elected to the European Parliament from the National Front for the Île-de-France constituency in the 2014 European Parliament election.En Ile-de-France, l'UMP nettement devant le FN Le Point. 26 May 2014
Biography
Career Graduating from the Paris Institute of Political Studies in 1993, Chauprade received a Master of International Law degree in 1996 and a doctorate in political science in 2001 from Paris Descartes University.La géopolitique : genèse d'une science politique, déterminants et modèles explicatifs, sous la direction d'Edmond Jouve, cf. identifiant pérenne notice Sudoc Trained in mathematics, he is a lecturer in geopolitics at the Royal College of Higher Military Education of the Kingdom of Morocco, director of the Revue française de géopolitique (French Review of Geopolitics) and editor of several collections published by Ellipses in Paris (Grands enjeux, Taupe-Niveau and Référence géopolitique). From 2003 to 2009, Chauprade was a lecturer on the history of political ideas at the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. He has taught at the Collège interarmées de défense (CID: French Joint Defense College) since 1999, where he oversees geopolitics courses.
Chauprade is a contributor to African historian Bernard Lugan's magazine, L'Afrique réelle (Real Africa), works for Dominique Venner's La Nouvelle Revue d'Histoire. He dedicated his book, Géopolitique, constantes et changements dans l'histoire (Geopolitics, Constants and Changes in History) to the students at CID. Chauprade is an officer in the French Naval Reserve.
After the publication of his book, Chronique du choc des civilisations ("Chronicle of the Clash of Civilizations" reedited in 2015), Chauprade was accused by French journalist Jean Guisnel« Chauprade, l'homme qui forme les officiers et déforme l'histoire », Jean Guisnel Le Point, 4 February 2009. of espousing September 11 conspiracy theories. He disputed the allegations. Chauprade was removed from his chair at the CID by Supervising Minister Hervé Morin in early February 2009.« Hervé Morin congédie un géopoliticien suite à un article du Point », Jean Guisnel Le Point, 5 February 2009.« Morin limoge un gradé pour ses propos sur le 11 September », Le Nouvel Observateur, 5 February 2009.« 11/9/complot : Morin limoge un prof », Le Figaro, 5 February 2009.
During the controversy, Chauprade (who filed a complaint against the Minister and the magazine Le Point) received support from CID students« Un enseignant du Collège interarmées de Défense congédié par Hervé Morin » , par Jean-Dominique Merchet, Secret défense, 5 February 2009. and his former university professor Edmond Jouve.Article sur le blog d'Edmond Jouve, 12 February 2009. Although CID head Vincent Desportes expressed reservations about Chauprade's writings, Desportes said: "He has never proselytized in his courses or expressed his vision of the world".« Affaire Chauprade : le géopoliticien attaque Hervé Morin en justice », AgoraVox, 17 February 2009.
A website supporting Chauprade was set up. On 24 March 2009 the Paris Administrative Court ruled in his favour, suspending Morin's decision and saying that the minister had violated a "fundamental freedom".Le Figaro du 24 March 2009 On 1 June 2011 the court upheld its ruling, saying that Morin's decision resulted "from an irregular procedure".« La justice donne raison à Aymeric Chauprade contre le ministère de la Défense » , par Jean-Dominique Merchet, Secret défense, 28 June 2011
Chauprade organized a conference with Jacques Frémeaux and Philippe Evanno in February 2013 at the Sorbonne (University of Paris IV) on threats in North Africa and the Sahel and Europe's overall security (Menaces en Afrique du Nord et au Sahel et sécurité globale de l'Europe), the proceedings of which were published in April 2013 by Ellipses Editions. Since January 2010, he has funded a geopolitical website. He is recognized as one of 100 most important international authors in geopolitics and International relations("Les grands théoriciens des relations intérnationales" 2015, Studyrama).
The daughter of the spokesperson of Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, Elizaveta Peskova, is an assistant to him in the European Parliament.
Geopolitics According to Chauprade, he follows a new French geopolitical school emphasizing realpolitik and deemphasizing ideology. Its ideas appear in the Revue française de géopolitique (French Review of Geopolitics) and the International Academy of Geopolitics, of which Chauprade is secretary-general.Jean-Marc Huissoud, Dictionnaire de géopolitique et de géoéconomie, sous la direction de Pascal Gauchon, PUF, 2011. His geopolitical philosophy follows that of François Thual, and can be found in the introduction to Géopolitique, constantes et changements dans l'histoire.André Brigot, " Rejets et nécessité d'une géographie politique européenne ", Le Débat Stratégique, 47, 1999 et " Persistance et utilité des recherches de géopolitique ", Revue Québécoise – Études internationales, 2000. Chauprade maintains strong relations with Morocco (where he teaches), and travels regularly to the Middle East, Central Europe, Central Asia, Russia and China.
Civilisations According to Jean-Marc Huissoud, Chauprade is considered a founder of the new French geopolitics, describing the "continuous and discontinuous" in his analysis of international questions. Chauprade has said, "France is at war against some Muslims, not at war with the Muslims but with some Muslims". In his interview for ITélé he said that France is better than a race, it's a civilization. Chauprade defends Judeo-Christian roots of Europe.
Politics Chauprade supported the list headed by Philippe de Villiers in the 2004 European Parliament election."Je voudrais saluer également et dans le même esprit, Aymeric Chauprade. Vous avez bien compris qu'Aymeric Chauprade, qui est le directeur des études de l'école de Guerre, a décidé de descendre dans l'arène. Il est connu sur les plateaux de télévision pour ses interventions de géopolitologue, il nous a apporté un message d'espoir exprimé brillamment. Je le remercie parce que, pour ceux qui ne le sauraient pas, il est reconnu non-seulement dans tous les milieux intellectuels, mais aussi bien au-delà par toutes les sensibilités souverainistes. On en a eu la preuve ce matin. Et merci de faire le lien avec toutes les sensibilités souverainistes qui vous reconnaissent et vous écoutent. " Philippe de Villiers, " L'agenda 2004 du souverainisme ", Université d'été du souverainisme, Lamoura, 7 September 2003. Chauprade should be the National Front's top candidate in the Île-de-France district for the 2014 European elections and Le Pen's advisor on foreign-policy issues.
In an interview with the French bi-monthly magazine L'Homme nouveau on 27 November 2013, he said that the "ideological bipolarity" separating the world is no longer the one opposing liberalism and communism (which are "two materialisms") but the one opposing "materialism and traditionalism": "On one side are those who believe that the individual is the supreme value, on the other are those who think that transcendence or the common good are superior to the human person".– Aymeric Chauprade : l’ennemi, c’est la dictature du relativisme. L'Homme nouveau, 27 November 2013 Chauprade's "commitment is clearly in the second camp," and he intends "to participate in a project that not only raises the issue of identity in France, but also raises the problem of materialism and rehabilitates transcendence in politics".
Chauprade defends the multipolar vision of politics which includes peaceful relations with Russia and the USA. He travelled to Crimea to "monitor" the Crimean status referendum,Russki Mir - "National Front", Nowaja Gaseta, 17. Dezember 2014 having been invited by the far-right Eurasian Observatory for Democracy & Elections (EODE) according to La LibérationAnton Shekhovtsov: Russia and the Western Far Right: Tango Noir Routledge Studies in Fascism and the Far Right, Routledge, 2017, , chapter "Cooperation with Civic Control" He was personally commenting the events live on Russia Today on 16 March.
In his ITélé interview of 9 November 2015 Chauprade appealed for the return of Philippe de Villiers and showed a strong desire of work by his side.
Quitting National Front On 9 November 2015, he announces quitting the National Front for "moral and ideological issues". Like some other members, he deplores the influence of Florian Philippot on Marine Le Pen and the party's political path.
He also stated that Alain Soral's anti-Semitic influence on a part of the party is one of the main reasons that made him quit the National Front. He stands for a right-wing recomposition.
On her side, Marine Le Pen claimed that "after the Air Cocaine gate, our disagreements with Aymeric Chauprade became too important for him to stay at the National Front". At the European Parliament, he quit the Europe of Nations and Freedom group (ENL), which he joined at its creation, and became an independent MEP.
On 13 January 2016 he announced the creation of his own party, , with the purpose of "unifying a credible and assumed right wing". He refused to make a choice during 2017's French presidential election between "globalised socialism and a nationalist socialism".
In April 2016, he admitted to being closer to Les Républicains and wishes to "take part in an eventual government from the right wing" without taking part in the election of Les Républicains' candidate to run for office. At the European Parliament he tried to join the French delegation of the European Popular Party, and Valeurs actuelles stated that "even benefiting from Michele Alliot-Marie's, Nadine Morano's and Brice Hortefeux’s support, he faces oppositions from juppeists".
During the election of Les Républicains' candidate to run for office, he supported Nicolas Sarkozy for the first round and Francois Fillon for the second round.
During the 2017 presidential election, he supported Fillon for the first round before supporting Emmanuel Macron in the second round.
On 16 March 2017, he expressed himself for one of the first times on the "shadow men" around the National Front in an Envoyé Special documentary. According to him, "Marine Le Pen is not free, she is held by those people (Frédéric Chatillon, Axel Loustau et Philippe Péninque). If she comes to power, those people will too. There is no reason for this group to disappear. It will become the group that brought her to power. It is the National Front economy. They are Marine Le Pen's secret".Envoyé Spécial, présenté par Élise Lucet, France 2, 16 mars 2017
When Macron visited the European Parliament on 17 April 2018, Chauprade congratulated him on his courage to initiate reforms. He joined the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) group, where he became vice-president. It is a sovereignist sensitivity group that includes the Five-Star Movement of Italy and UKIP of Britain.
"Air Cocaine" affair