Bertrand de Jouvenel | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1903-10-31)31 October 1903 Paris, France |
| Died | 1 March 1987(1987-03-01) (aged 83) Paris, France |
| Spouse | |
| Relatives | |
| Family | Jouvenel des Ursins [fr] |
| Education | |
| Alma mater | University of Paris |
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western Philosophy |
| School | Conservatism[1][2] Liberalism[1] |
| Institutions | Mont Pelerin Society |
| Main interests | Political philosophy Economics Futorology |
| Notable ideas | High-low vs. middle dynamic |
Bertrand de Jouvenel des Ursins (French pronunciation:[bɛʁtʁɑ̃dəʒuvnɛldez‿yʁsɛ̃]; 31 October 1903 – 1 March 1987) was a French philosopher,political economist, andfuturist. He taught at theUniversity of Oxford, theUniversity of Cambridge, theUniversity of Manchester,Yale University, theUniversity of Chicago, theUniversity of California, Berkeley and at theUniversité de Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 | |
 An Interview with Bertrand de Jouvenel |
Bertrand was the heir of an old family from the French nobility, coming from theChampagne region. He was the son ofHenri de Jouvenel and Sarah Boas, the daughter of a Jewish industrialist. Henri divorced Sarah in 1912 to become the second husband of French writerColette. In 1920, when he was only 16, Bertrand began an affair with his stepmother, who was then in her late 40s. The affair ended Colette and Henri's marriage and caused a scandal. It lasted until 1924. Some believe Bertrand to be the role model for the title character in Colette's novelChéri, but in fact she had published about half the book, in serial form, before she and her stepson met for the first time, in the spring of 1920. Their affair actually inspired Colette's novelLe Blé en herbe. In the 1930s, he participated in theCahiers Bleus, the review ofGeorges Valois'Republican Syndicalist Party. From 1930 to 1934, Jouvenel had an affair with the American war correspondentMartha Gellhorn. They would have married had his wife agreed to a divorce.[3]
In his memoirs,The Invisible Writing,Arthur Koestler recalled that in 1934, Jouvenel was among a small number of French intellectuals who promised moral and financial support to the newly establishedInstitut pour l'Étude du Fascisme, a supposedly self-financing enterprise. Other personalities to offer support were ProfessorLangevin, theJoliot–Curies andAndré Malraux.[4]
However, that same year, Jouvenel was impressed by theriot of the antiparliamentary leagues that occurred on 6 February 1934, became disillusioned with traditional political parties and left the Radical Party. He began a paper withPierre Andreu calledLa Lutte des jeunes (The Struggle of the Young) while at the same time contributing to the right wing paperGringoire, for which he covered the 1935 Nuremberg Congress in Germany where the infamous Nuremberg Laws were passed. He began frequenting royalist and nationalist circles, where he metHenri de Man andPierre Drieu la Rochelle.[5]
He was in favour of Franco-German rapprochement and created the "Cercle du grand pavois", which supported theComité France–Allemagne (Franco-German Committee). Here he became friends withOtto Abetz, the future German ambassador to Paris during the occupation.[6] In February 1936 he interviewed Adolf Hitler for the journalParis-Midi,[7] for which he was criticised for being too friendly to the dictator.[citation needed]
That same year he joinedJacques Doriot'sParti populaire français (PPF).[8] He became the editor in chief of its journalL'Émancipation nationale (National Emancipation), wherein he supported fascism. He broke with the PPF in 1938 when Doriot supported the Munich Agreement.
After the French defeat in 1940 Jouvenel stayed in Paris and under German occupation publishedAprès la Défaite, calling for France to join Hitler's New Order. He fled to Switzerland just before the liberation of Paris by the Allies. Jouvenel was among the very few French intellectuals to pay respectful attention to the economic theory andwelfare economics that emerged during the first half of the 20th century in Austria, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. However, he is against government-enforced redistribution in his workThe Ethics of Redistribution.
Jouvenel's mother passionately supported Czechoslovakian independence, and so he began his career as a private secretary toEdvard Beneš,Czechoslovakia's first prime minister. In 1947, along withFriedrich Hayek,Jacques Rueff, andMilton Friedman, he founded theMont Pelerin Society. Later in life, de Jouvenel established the Futuribles International in Paris.
Dennis Hale of Boston College has co-edited two volumes of essays by Jouvenel.[9]
Later in his life, Jouvenel's views shifted back to the left. In 1960, he complained to Milton Friedman that the Mont Pelerin Society had "turned increasingly to aManichaeism according to which the state can do no good and private enterprise can do no wrong."[10] He was sympathetic to thestudent protests of 1968 and critical of theVietnam War.[11] He also expressed support for the SocialistFrançois Mitterrand.[10]
Zeev Sternhell published a book,Ni Droite, ni Gauche ("Neither Right nor Left"), accusing De Jouvenel of having had fascist sympathies in the 1930s and 1940s. De Jouvenel sued in 1983, claiming nine counts oflibel, two of which the court upheld. However, Sternhell was neither required to publish a retraction nor to strike any passages from future printings of his book.[12]
