Hélène Carrère d’Encausse

Carrère d’Encausse, Hélène (Elene, daughter of Giorgi Zurabishvili) (July 6, 1929, Paris – 5 August, 2023) – political scientist, Sovietologist, professor of political science, member (since 1989) and secretary of the French Academy (Académie française, also known as the “Academy of Immortals,” which has had a permanent membership of 40 “immortals” since its founding in 1635 – only three of whom have been women). She is the great-granddaughter of Niko Nikoladze.

She graduated with honors from the Paris Institute of Political Studies. In 1976, she defended her doctoral dissertation at the Sorbonne University (“The Bolsheviks and the Nationalities up to 1929”), in which Georgia holds a significant place. She lectured on the political and social history of the USSR at the University of Paris. At the Center for the Study of International Relations, she headed the USSR section. She was also a senior researcher at the National Institute of Political Science (France).

Since 1971, she participated in the Slavic Committee of the University of Chicago’s Slavic Group. In 1972, her major work “The Soviet Union: From Lenin to Stalin, 1917–1953” was published in Paris.

In 1978, her renowned work “The Shattered Empire” was published, in which she predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union. She emphasized the acute problems of minorities, indicating the risk of disintegration along national lines.

In 1986, her work “Neither War, nor Peace” was published, dealing with the Soviet Union during the Brezhnev era and its policies.

She has received France’s highest honors, including the Legion of Honor (Chevalier rank) and the French National Order of Merit.

In May 2003, she visited Tbilisi. The rector of Tbilisi State University awarded her the Ivane Javakhishvili Medal.

Literature: უ რ უ შ ა ძ ე  ლ., ევროპა და ქართული პოლიტიკური ემიგრაცია, თბ., 2005; შ ა რ ა ძ ე  გ., უცხოეთის ცის ქვეშ, წგ. 3, თბ., 1993.

L. Urushadze