Director of the CERI at SciencesPo, Stéphanie Balme conducted a study for France Universités, an organisation whose members are presidents of universities, titled “Defending and promoting academic freedom. A global issue, an urgent matter for France and Europe. Findings and proposals for action.” She shares some of her insights here.
Unofficially unveiled on October 2, 2025, US President Donald Trump’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education is a striking illustration of the politicisation of knowledge and the desire for ideological control over scientific output in the United States. Behind the rhetoric of “restoring excellence” lies a new stage in the institutionalisation of “sciento-populism”: mistrust of science is being strategically exploited to flatter populist sentiments and turn academics into scapegoats, held responsible for the “decline” of US civilisational hegemony.
