PRIX VAUBAN 2023

19/12/2023

Amin MAALOUF
Permanent Secretary of the Académie Française
Le labyrinthe des égarés (ed. Grasset)

The Vauban Prize
The Prix Vauban was created 50 years ago this year by the Institut des Hautes Etudes de Défense Nationale (IHEDN). It is sponsored by Radio Classique and GICAT.
The Prix Vauban is awarded each year for a work that contributes to the promotion, illustration or development of the spirit of defense in the intellectual, diplomatic, political, geopolitical or economic fields. It is awarded each year by the Chairman of the Vauban Commission, in the presence of the General Director of the IHEDN and the President of the AA-IHEDN; the prize-giving ceremony takes place in December in the historic Salon des Maréchaux at the Ecole Militaire in Paris.
Over the years, the Vauban Commission, which holds its sessions at the Ecole Militaire's Heritage Library, has named a number of prestigious prizewinners whose works have been at the heart of national thinking on issues relating to the spirit of defense: Jean de Gliniasty, Jacques Julliard, François Godement, Nicolas Baverez, François Heisbourg, Gérard Chaliand, Alain Finkielkraut, Bruno Tertrais, Pascal Boniface, Christophe Guilluy, Christian Saint-Etienne, Peter Geiss, Pierre Schoendoerffer, Tzvetan Todorov...

Prix Vauban 2023 - Amin Maalouf, Le labyrinthe des égarés (Grasset).
Looking back at the history of Japan, the USSR, then Russia, China and the United States, the author considers the meaning and particularities of our European civilization and the West, as well as their interactions with other civilizations. In this respect, Amin Maalouf - an author whose intellectual life is built up between several cultures and languages - is always keen to present other perspectives on historical events, without neglecting the perspectives specific to our own civilization. We find here the theme of the "gaze" that is dear to him, for this attention to the gaze of other cultures or other civilizations on history constitutes for him one of the keys to understanding the true causality of things; for Amin Maalouf, this is "the first step towards wisdom, [the] first step towards harmonious coexistence". This enables him to better grasp the fundamental movements that have animated our world for more than two centuries - and sometimes even longer - and to understand with the utmost accuracy the origins of the conflicts that arise today.

Amin Maalouf's book presents the reasons for our own bewilderment in the labyrinth of this sometimes so complex world, so that we can seize the chance to find the Ariadne's thread that will lead us out of it. "If the West (...) manages to emerge from [the] current crisis with a reprieve", he insists, then we must make good use of this reprieve. Thus, it should no longer be a question of settling scores, but rather of building a new international legality opening the way to the spread of prosperity, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law. The outcome of this reprieve for our civilization will be determined not so much by the war itself, but by the way we intend to wage it and the way we act to bring it to an end. As Amin Maalouf points out, "if Europe and the United States do not take advantage of the reprieve offered to them by History to finally build an international system in which the whole of humanity can recognize itself, it is possible that this opportunity will not present itself again". It's hardly surprising, then, that the book ends with this sentence: "It's not too late. We have the means to get out of this labyrinth. We just have to start admitting that we've lost our way.