Image credits: Paris 2024, Florian Halleu

The Olympic games are coming to Paris in 3 months!

As the fever is growing, we are thrilled to kick off our own Olympic Games series with a presentation from an original angle!

We all know that the Olympic Games were created in Ancient Greece in the 8th century BC until the 4th century AD. It was revived as early as the 17th century and more formally by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1890.

Some of you might know that Roland Barthes has thoroughly documented how the Games act as a peaceful confrontation arena for all nations through sports. As such, this long-standing tradition is the embodiment of sports diplomacy in all its components and part of a larger branch of diplomacy, Soft Power or Public Diplomacy, alongside Economic, Cultural or Scientific Diplomacy.

What is Protocol ? How is it structured and how does it contribute to Public Diplomacy, through the organization of major international events like the Olympic Games ? What happens behind the scenes ? How do you deal with heads of State, delegations, and all the various stakeholders ?

After the discussion with our own Stephen Duso-Bauduin, diplomat at the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, you will look at the international competition with a whole new set of eyes and experience the Games with a broader understanding of the stakes!

Dr. Stephen DUSO-BAUDUIN is a French Diplomat currently working as Senior advisor to the Head of the French Republic State Protocol. During his career, he worked in the field of economic diplomacy and was posted in Europe. Before being a diplomat, he was a researcher, advised the French Ministry of Defense on counter-terrorism and and he also worked in finance for Bloomberg LLP

He studied Public Policy at the Kennedy School and some subjects like AI at Oxford University, he graduated from Sciences Po, has the « Agrégation », an MBA, and holds a PhD from the EHESS on « US-China strategic relations ».