Thierry Vircoulon is a graduate of the National School of Administration (Ecole Nationale d’administration – ENA), the Institute for Political Studies in Paris and the Sorbonne University in Political Science. For 20 years, his work has focused on conflicts, security and governance issues in Africa. Most of his work is focusing on governance, security sector reform and the linkage between conflicts and natural resources. He has been part of several international groups of thematic experts (UNODC, OECD and UA/EU) and he is the author and co-author of several books on South Africa and Democratic Republic of Congo. He is presently senior consultant for the think tank International Crisis Group, he is coordinating the Observatory for Central and Southern Africa for the Paris based think tank IFRI (French Institute for International Affairs) and he is an expert of the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime (South Africa). Thierry Vircoulon has taught a Master’s course on security issues in Sub-Saharan Africa at the Institute for Political Studies (Sciences-Po). He has worked for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Commission on the African continent, particularly in South Africa, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Thierry Vircoulon is a specialist in the Great Lakes region, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe. A former student at the Ecole Nationale d’Administration and holder of a master’s degree in political science from La Sorbonne, he has worked for the Quai d’Orsay and the European Commission, notably in South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo. His work focuses mainly on governance and security sector reform (SSR). He is also a member of an OECD expert group on state-building and peace consolidation.
Thierry Vircoulon graduated from the French Public Management Institute (ENA) and the Institute for Political Studies in Paris. He holds a masters degree in Political Science from Sorbonne University. He worked as the Central Africa project director for the International Crisis Group in Kenya (2010-15), taught security issues in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Institute for Political Studies in Paris (2013-19) and has been working for the French Institute of International Affairs since 2016. He is presently the coordinator of the Central and Eastern Africa Observatory of the French Institute of International Affairs, is doing consultancy research for various organisations working in conflict zones (NGOs, donors) and is contributing to the global organised crime index.
– Coordinator of special issue on South Africa, Afrique contemporaine, n°210, Summer 2004.
– Coordinator of special issue on « Nouveau voyage au Congo : les défis de la reconstruction », Afrique contemporaine, n°227, 2008/3.
– “Les risques du fédéralisme”, Afrique contemporaine, n°174, April-June 1995, pp. 35-50
– “La crise somalienne”, Afrique contemporaine, n°177, January-March 1996, pp. 3-16
– “Au coeur des conflits, l’Etat”, Afrique contemporaine, n°180, October-December 1996, pp. 199-206
– “La nouvelle Afrique du Sud”, Etudes, December 2004, pp. 585-611
– “Ambiguïtés de l’intervention internationale en République démocratique du Congo”, Politique africaine, June 2005, pp. 79-95
– “La RDC : la démocratie sans démocrates”, Politique étrangère, 3/2006
– “Anticipating a new and fragile democracy in Central Africa”, African Security Review, n°15, 2006/1
– “Le Zimbabwe de Robert Mugabe : une dictature durable”, Politique étrangère, 3/2008 (with Marc-André Lagrange)
– “Kivu : la guerre qui ne veut pas finir”, Alternatives internationales, December 2008
– “North Kivu : back to the quagmire ?”, Institute for Security Studies website, November 2008.
– “La gouvernance de l’Afrique du Sud”, Etudes, June 2010
– “La Coupe du Monde 2010 ou l’Afrique du Sud dans un miroir”, Géoéconomie, Summer 2010, pp.137-143
– “L’eau gratuite pour tous ? L’exemple de la nouvelle politique de l’eau en Afrique du Sud”, Afrique contemporaine, n°205, Spring 2003, pp. 135-150
– “La réforme de l’Etat fédéral américain”, Futuribles, May 2005, pp. 49-54
– “La régulation des transports informels à l’épreuve de la guerre des taxis collectifs en Afrique du Sud”, Afrique contemporaine, 2006/2, pp. 119-140 (With Roland Lomme)
– “La crise humanitaire au nord Kenya : s’approprier l’aide ou s’approprier la gestion de l’eau”, Etudes, May 2007 (With Marc André Lagrange)
– “Au delà de la transition : l’agenda de la reconstruction et du développement en République démocratique du Congo”, African Renaissance, vol 4, n°2, 2007
– “L’Etat globalisé, nouvelle figure de la globalisation en Afrique”, Etudes, January 2007
– “Piller les ressources naturelles : un business comme les autres”, L’ENA hors les murs, February 200
– “The Marriage that Rocked Africa: décolonisation, diplomatie et question raciale dans l’avènement du Botswana contemporain” in La place de l’autre, Michel Prum (ed), L’Harmattan, Paris, 2010
– “La sécurité sans l’Etat ? Sécurité privée et communautarisme sécuritaire en Afrique du Sud”, Les Cahiers de la Sécurité Intérieure, n°53, Third Quater 2003, pp. 171-184
– “Transposer l’Etat de droit dans les “Failed States” ? Réflexions à partir d’une expérience africaine”, Les Cahiers de la Sécurité Intérieure, n°55, First Quater 2004, pp. 205-218
– “Les services de renseignement américains sont-ils réformables ?”, Cahiers de la sécurité, Second Quater 2005, pp. 177-198
– “Police et changement politique : la démocratisation de la police sud- africaine”, Cahiers de la sécurité, Fourth Quater 2005, pp. 269-293
– “Quand la délinquance s’invite en politique : la politisation de la question criminelle dans la nouvelle Afrique du Sud”, Raisons politiques, February 2005, pp. 97-115
– “Zones de conflit, reconstruire la justice”, Culture et Droit, n°7, 2006, pp. 70-72
– “L’Afrique du Sud, une voix africaine dans le concert de la planète”, Marché financier, n°35
– Supporting SSR in the DRC: between a rock and a hard place, Conflict research unit occasional paper, Clingendael Institute, Netherlands, April 2010, Henri Boshoff, Dylan Hendrickson, Sylvie More, Thierry Vircoulon
– “Chinois d’Afrique, Chinois en Afrique et Afro-Chinois : les multiples visages de la communauté chinoise d’Afrique du Sud”, Monde Chinois, 2006
– « La nouvelle question sino-africaine », Etudes, November 2007
– « La Chine, nouvel acteur de la reconstruction congolaise », Afrique contemporaine, 2008/3, n°227
– « Autopsie d’une controverse internationale, le partenariat sino-congolais sous le feu des critiques », Les Temps Modernes, January-March 2010, n°657
– « Chine-Afrique : la fin de la lune de miel », L’Afrique en questions n° 22, Actuelle de l’Ifri, juillet 2015
– “Les questions de la terre dans la nouvelle Afrique du Sud”, Hérodote, n°111, 4th Quarter 2003, pp. 99-115
– “L’Ituri ou la guerre au pluriel”, Afrique contemporaine, n°215, 2005, pp. 129-146
– “The Ituri paradox: when armed groups have a land policy and peace makers do not” in The Struggle over Land in Africa, Chris Alden & Ward Anseeuw (eds), HSRC press, Pretoria, 2010 with Florence Liegeois, Violence in the Bush: How International Peacebuilding faces Land-use Conflicts, February 2010
(blog posts, columns, policy briefings, book reviews etc.) See also: Afrique Décryptages – Le blog du Centre Afrique subsaharienne de l’IFRI
