François Foret is Professor of political science and researcher at the Cevipol and the Institute for European Studies (IEE), Université Libre de Bruxelles; and President of the IEE-ULB (from september 2023).

He is also fellow at the European Governance and Politics Programme, Robert Schuman Centre, European University Institute Florence.

His specialization is in political sociology; European studies and comparative politics. His researches focus on the legitimization of political orders; symbolic politics; the interaction between politics, culture, religion and values; the comparison between Europe, Japan and the US.

His current research project deals with the proliferation and rapid exhaustion of political narratives in processes of community- and polity-building. The purpose is to understand to which extend and how identity, normative and memory issues are recycled into new cultural forms and interact with the justification of public institutions. The evolution of narratives across time and space is analyzed in its relation with political, economic and technological change.

Another path of investigation is the interaction between arts (especially theater and literature) and politics.

Among his publications connected to EASt activities are:

• with Airo Hino (eds) (2021), Values in European and Japanese politics, London, Routledge

• with Jana Vargovčíková (2021) “The prize of governance. How the European Union uses symbolic distinctions to mobilize society and foster competitiveness”, Journal of Common Market Studies, https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13163.

• (2015) Religion and politics in the European Union, The Secular Canopy. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press