Emmanuel Todd
Encyclopedia
Emmanuel Todd is a French
historian
, anthropologist, demographer, sociologist and political scientist
at the National Institute of Demographic Studies
(INED), in Paris
. His research examines the different types of families worldwide and how there are matching beliefs, ideologies and political systems, and the historical events involving these things.
, Yvelines
, Emmanuel Todd is the grandson of the writer, Paul Nizan
, the son of the journalist Olivier Todd, and the father of the historian David Todd. The historian Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie
, who pioneered microhistory
, was a friend of the family and gave him his first history book. Aged 10, Todd wanted to become an archeologist. He studied at the Lycée international de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where he was a member of the Communist Youth
. He then studied political science
at the Paris Institute of Political Studies and went on to prepare a Ph.D.
in history
at the University of Cambridge
. He defended his doctoral thesis on Seven peasant communities in pre-industrial Europe. A comparative study of French, Italian and Swedish rural parishes (18th and early 19th century) in 1976.
Todd attracted attention in 1976 when he, at 25 years old, predicted the fall of the Soviet Union
, based on indicators such as increasing infant mortality
rates: (The Final Fall: An Essay on the Decomposition of the Soviet Sphere).
He then worked for a time in the literary service of Le Monde
daily, then returned to research, working on the hypothesis of a determination of ideologies and religious or political beliefs by familial systems (Explanation of Ideology: Family Structure & Social System, 1983). He then wrote, among other books, The Invention of Europe (1990) and The Fate of Immigrants (1994), in which he defended the "French model" of integration of immigrants.
Todd opposed to the Maastricht Treaty
in the 1992 referendum. In 1995, he wrote a memo for the Fondation Saint-Simon, which became famous — the media thereafter attributed to him the paternity of the expression "" (social crack or social gap), used by Jacques Chirac
during the 1995 electoral campaign
in order to distinguish himself from his rival Édouard Balladur
. Todd, however, has rejected this paternity, and attributed the expression to Marcel Gauchet
.
In After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order
(2001), Todd predicted the fall of the United States
as the sole superpower
and the emergence of a multipolar world, with the rise of Europe
, Japan
and Russia
.
In spite of his opposition to the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, Todd expressed himself in favour of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe in the referendum of 2005, advocating a protectionist framework at the European level for the future policies of the Union.
In A Convergence of Civilizations: The Transformation of Muslim Societies Around the World (2007), written with fellow demographist Youssef Courbage, Todd criticized Samuel Huntington
's thesis of a clash of civilizations
, pointing instead to indices of a convergence in styles of life and in values among civilisations.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, anthropologist, demographer, sociologist and political scientist
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
at the National Institute of Demographic Studies
Institut national d'études démographiques
The Institut national d'études démographiques is a French research institute specialized in demography and population studies in general.-A research institute founded in 1945:...
(INED), in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. His research examines the different types of families worldwide and how there are matching beliefs, ideologies and political systems, and the historical events involving these things.
Life and works
Born in Saint-Germain-en-LayeSaint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the centre.Inhabitants are called Saint-Germanois...
, Yvelines
Yvelines
Yvelines is a French department in the region of Île-de-France.-History:Yvelines was created from the western part of the defunct department of Seine-et-Oise on 1 January 1968 in accordance with a law passed on 10 January 1964 and a décret d'application from 26 February 1965.It gained the...
, Emmanuel Todd is the grandson of the writer, Paul Nizan
Paul Nizan
Paul Nizan was a French philosopher and writer.-Biography:He was born in Tours, Indre-et-Loire and studied in Paris where he befriended fellow student Jean-Paul Sartre at the Lycée Henri IV...
, the son of the journalist Olivier Todd, and the father of the historian David Todd. The historian Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie
Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie
Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie is a French historian whose work is mainly focused upon Languedoc in the ancien regime, particularly the history of the peasantry.-Early life and career:...
, who pioneered microhistory
Microhistory
Microhistory is the intensive historical investigation of a well defined smaller unit of research...
, was a friend of the family and gave him his first history book. Aged 10, Todd wanted to become an archeologist. He studied at the Lycée international de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where he was a member of the Communist Youth
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
. He then studied political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
at the Paris Institute of Political Studies and went on to prepare a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. He defended his doctoral thesis on Seven peasant communities in pre-industrial Europe. A comparative study of French, Italian and Swedish rural parishes (18th and early 19th century) in 1976.
Todd attracted attention in 1976 when he, at 25 years old, predicted the fall of the Soviet Union
Predictions of Soviet collapse
There were people who predicted that the Soviet Union would eventually be dissolved before the process of dissolution began with the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989....
, based on indicators such as increasing infant mortality
Infant mortality
Infant mortality is defined as the number of infant deaths per 1000 live births. Traditionally, the most common cause worldwide was dehydration from diarrhea. However, the spreading information about Oral Re-hydration Solution to mothers around the world has decreased the rate of children dying...
rates: (The Final Fall: An Essay on the Decomposition of the Soviet Sphere).
He then worked for a time in the literary service of Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
daily, then returned to research, working on the hypothesis of a determination of ideologies and religious or political beliefs by familial systems (Explanation of Ideology: Family Structure & Social System, 1983). He then wrote, among other books, The Invention of Europe (1990) and The Fate of Immigrants (1994), in which he defended the "French model" of integration of immigrants.
Todd opposed to the Maastricht Treaty
Maastricht Treaty
The Maastricht Treaty was signed on 7 February 1992 by the members of the European Community in Maastricht, Netherlands. On 9–10 December 1991, the same city hosted the European Council which drafted the treaty...
in the 1992 referendum. In 1995, he wrote a memo for the Fondation Saint-Simon, which became famous — the media thereafter attributed to him the paternity of the expression "" (social crack or social gap), used by Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
during the 1995 electoral campaign
French presidential election, 1995
Presidential elections took place in France on 23 April and 7 May 1995, to elect the fifth president of the Fifth Republic.The incumbent Socialist president, François Mitterrand, did not stand for a third term. He was 78, had cancer, and his party had lost the previous legislative election in a...
in order to distinguish himself from his rival Édouard Balladur
Édouard Balladur
Édouard Balladur is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 29 March 1993 to 10 May 1995.-Biography:Balladur was born in İzmir, Turkey, to an Armenian Catholic family with five children and long-standing ties to France...
. Todd, however, has rejected this paternity, and attributed the expression to Marcel Gauchet
Marcel Gauchet
Marcel Gauchet is a French historian, philosopher and sociologist.Gauchet is professor at the Centre de recherches politiques Raymond Aron at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and head of the periodical Le Débat .Gauchet is one of France's most prominent contemporary...
.
In After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order
After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order
After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order is a 2001 book by Emmanuel Todd...
(2001), Todd predicted the fall of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as the sole superpower
Superpower
A superpower is a state with a dominant position in the international system which has the ability to influence events and its own interests and project power on a worldwide scale to protect those interests...
and the emergence of a multipolar world, with the rise of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
In spite of his opposition to the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, Todd expressed himself in favour of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe in the referendum of 2005, advocating a protectionist framework at the European level for the future policies of the Union.
In A Convergence of Civilizations: The Transformation of Muslim Societies Around the World (2007), written with fellow demographist Youssef Courbage, Todd criticized Samuel Huntington
Samuel Huntington
Samuel Huntington may refer to:* Samuel Huntington , American jurist, statesman, and revolutionary leader* Samuel H. Huntington , American jurist* Samuel P. Huntington , American political scientist...
's thesis of a clash of civilizations
Clash of Civilizations
The Clash of Civilizations is a theory, proposed by political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world....
, pointing instead to indices of a convergence in styles of life and in values among civilisations.
Quotes
With an English translation
- The Final Fall: An Essay on the Decomposition of the Soviet Sphere, 1976
- Explanation of Ideology: Family Structure & Social System, 1983
- The causes of progress: culture, authority, and change 1984
- The Making of Modern France: Ideology, Politics and Culture, 1988
- After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American OrderAfter the Empire: The Breakdown of the American OrderAfter the Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order is a 2001 book by Emmanuel Todd...
, 2001 - A Convergence of Civilizations: The Transformation of Muslim Societies Around the World , with Youssef Courbage, 2007
Without an English translation
- Le Fou et le Prolétaire, Éditions Robert Laffont, Paris, 1979.
- L'Invention de la France, (with Hervé Le Bras), Éditions Pluriel-Hachettes, Paris, 1981.
- La Nouvelle France, Éditions du Seuil, coll. L'Histoire immédiate, Paris, 1988.
- L'invention de l'Europe (The Invention of Europe), 1990
- Le destin des immigrés (The Fate of Immigrants), 1994
- L'illusion économique. Essai sur la stagnation des sociétés développées (The Economic Illusion), 1998
- La Diversité du monde : Famille et modernité, Éditions du Seuil, coll. L'histoire immédiate, Paris, 1999.
- Après la démocratie, Gallimard, Paris, 2008.
- L'origine des systèmes familiaux, Tome 1: L'Eurasie, Gallimard, Paris, 2011
External links
- Protectionism and Democracy, Interview with Emmanuel Todd, by Karim Emile Bitar (french), published in L'ENA hors les murs, the ENA alumni magazine.
- Emmanuel Todd: The Specter of a Soviet-Style Crisis translation of an interview with Le FigaroLe FigaroLe Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
- The Conceited Empire interview with Martin A. Senn & Felix Lautenschlager for The New Zuricher
- Interview with Emmanuel Todd, by Michael Monninger Extract from Prospect, June 2003 see also this excerpt
- Emmanuel Todd interview on the 'French riots' translation of an interview with Le MondeLe MondeLe Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
- Google Video: Charlie Rose interview of Emmanuel Todd Interview starts at 38:48 in the video.
- Emmanuel Todd - On the Anthropological Roots of Modern Conflicts svAbhinava compendium of links.