Join Gérard Araud, former Ambassador of France to the U.S., as he presents a new memoir, Passeport diplomatique, recently published in France by Grasset. The conversation will be moderated by Guy Sorman.

After occupying the most prestigious French diplomatic roles with France’s Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs for 37 years, Gérard Araud takes a step back to analyze a long historical sequence of events to which he was a privileged witness.

“My career, which began after Ronald Regan’s election and concluded two years after Donald Trump’s,” he states, “is inscribed in a singular moment in history, which, for lack of a better term, I call Neo-liberalism. This is based––economically speaking––on the sovereignty of the market; a general wariness with regard to the State and opening of borders; and in foreign politics, on the conviction of the superiority of Western values.”

Araud’s memoirs read like a clear and erudite essay, bringing together various insights to explain the collapse of one world and the birth of another. He recounts delicate incidents and situations and imparts both advice for young diplomats and opinions on the ministers and presidents whom he served. Known for his frankness, subtle humor, and determined spirit, the former ambassador brings readers behind the scenes of diplomacy, taking us to the heart of the diplomatic machine in order to understand its complexities.

The event will be led in French.

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Gérard Araud is considered by many to have been one of France’s most brilliant and influential ambassadors. His positions have included the following: Ambassador Secretary in Tel Aviv in charge of questions surrounding the Middle East at the CAP du Ministère des Affaires Etrangères (1982-1984), Counselor for the French Embassy in Washington (1987-1991), Assistant Director of Community Affairs for MAE (1991-1993), Diplomatic Counselor for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the French delegate for the North Atlantic Council (1995), Director of Strategic Affairs, Security, and Disarmament for MAE (2000), French Ambassador to Israel (2003-2006), Managing Director of Political and Security Affairs, Assistant Chief Administrative Officer of the MAE (in which role he negotiated the Iranian nuclear dossier on behalf of France), Permanent Representative of France to the Security Council and Head of the Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations in New York (July 2009).raud notably negotiated significant resolutions on Iran, Libya (those which would permit military intervention in Libya in 2011), Syria, the Ivory Coast, and Mali. He was named Ambassador to the United States in July 2014. He retired from the Quai d’Orsay in the spring of 2019.
Gérard Araud has published articles in the journals Commentaire and Esprit under pseudonyms and will begin writing a regular column for Le Monde starting in September 2019.

Guy Sorman is a leading French public intellectual and author, who has written more than 25 books on social, economic, and global affairs including Made in USA, Le Cœur américain, Economics does not Lie, The Children of Rifaa: In Search of a Moderate Islam, and The Year of the Rooster, The Truth about China, among many others.
A professor of Economics, Sorman is the director of France-Amérique, the only French-American bilingual magazine in the US. He is also a contributor to Le Monde and Le Point.