GHAZARIAN Maxime

Ph. D. Candidate in Contemporary History
maxime.ghazarian@univ-montp3.fr • linkedin.com/in/maxime-ghazarian

Research Areas

• European and Southeast Asian diplomacy during the Cold War
• Vietnamese Studies - European Studies - Cold War Studies
• Relations between the European Economic Community (EEC) / European Union (EU) and South East Asia (1973-1996)
• Development cooperation and international trade strategies

Ph. D. Thesis (In Progress)

A Strategic Ambivalence. The European Community's Search for a Vietnamese Policy (1973-1996)

Abstract: The thesis examines the evolution of Euro-Vietnamese relations between 1973 and 1996, focusing on the cooperation and the transformations within the European Community (EC) and its institutions. The research highlights how the Vietnamese question became a key issue that reflected and shaped deep institutional dynamics and power struggles among member states during the Cold War. Drawing on archival sources from European, French, British, and Vietnamese centers and informed primarily by Vietnamese Studies, European Studies, and Cold War Studies, this work reveals how the EC oscillated between strategic ambitions and the political constraints of the era. The EC's engagement with Việt Nam evolved as a testing ground for its external policy, shaped by competing national interests, institutional debates, and shifting geopolitical realities. By 1996, with Việt Nam's participation in the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), the relationship symbolised the EC's capacity to adapt its external strategies, affirming its role as a diplomatic actor in Southeast Asia.

Academic Background

• Ph. D. in Contemporary History,  University Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3 (UPVM3), France (since 2021)
• Master's in European and International Studies, UPVM3 (2019-2021)
• University Diploma - Springboard to Vietnam, UPVM3 (2019-2021)

Recent Publications

• 2025 - Compte-rendu d'événement scientifique : "Europeanisations from the Bottom and from the Margins. Actors, Representations, and Experiences (late 19th-early 21st centuries), infoclio.
• 2025 - The Progressive Europeanisation of the Framework of Franco-Vietnamese Relations, Journal Francophonie en Asie Pacifique.
• 2024 - The Humanitarian Issue at the Heart of the Cold War: France, Europe, and Southeast Asian Migrations - Revue d'Histoire diplomatique.
• 2022 - A Trilateral Approach: Community-based Europe, Việt Nam, and ASEAN. From Strategic Dilemma to Đổi mới Apotheosis (1976-1995) - in Enhancing ASEAN-EU Strategic Partnership in the New Context in the Indo-Pacific Region, Social Sciences Publishing House.

Scientific Presentations

• 2024 - The Formation of a European Diplomatic Approach: Việt Nam as Key Relationship, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi, Vietnam. 
• 2023 - The Paris Agreements: The Starting Point for French and European Strategic Repositioning in Việt Nam, French Diplomatic Archives Center, La Courneuve, France.
• 2023 - Breaking International Encirclement: Việt Nam, France, and Europe as a Resonance Chamber (1979-1996), University Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, France.
• 2023 - The Interweaving of European Dynamics through Relations with Việt Nam, Maison Jean Monnet, Bazoches-sur-Guyonne, France.
• 2022 - The European Parliament as a Catalyst for the European Community's Việt Nam Policy, Saigon Social Sciences Hub, Dalat, Vietnam. 

Awards and Distinctions

• 2024 - Field Research Grant, École Française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. 
• 2023 - Field Research Grant, Fondation Pierre Ledoux - Jeunesse Internationale, Hanoi, Vietnam.

Teaching & Research Activities

• University Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3 (2021-2024)
  • History of Europe in the 19th Century
  • France's Foreign Policy since 1945
• University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi (2022-2023)
  • The European Union's Foreign Policy
  • EU-Việt Nam Relations
  • La Francophonie in International Relations
  • The Third World in the Cold War
     

• Co-founder of the CIMSEPINDO project

This project is part of a historical study of the memory of French burials and cemeteries in Việt Nam, from the 19th century to the present. The website (follow this link: https://cimsepindo.com/) features archives and figures, period photographs, new bulletins, an interactive map tracing the evolution of the French burial landscape in Việt Nam, and the phases of repatriation of French mortal remains.

• Board Member of the Saigon Social Sciences Hub (SSSH) 

This network is a conference platform that brings together social sciences and humanities researchers in Vietnamese studies worldwide. The SSSH organizes events through two sessions: Spring and Fall-Winter, held both online and on-site at the École française d'Extrême-Orient in Hồ Chí Minh City, Việt Nam. This network provides an opportunity to meet and exchange ideas on innovative topics and to share advances in the field. The links to the websites are as follows:

- X (ex-Twitter): https://x.com/sssh_vietnam

- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/290795985573906 / https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063962657602

- LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/saigon-social-sciences-hub-sssh

Expertise

• European diplomatic strategies and their engagement with Southeast Asia, focusing on Việt Nam (Cold War and Post-Cold War)
• European integration and cooperation
• Southeast Asia's political, economic, and diplomatic dynamics since the 1960s
• International economic cooperation
• Multilateral and bilateral relations in the post-Cold War period

Languages

• French (native) 
• English (C1)
• Spanish (B2-C1) 
• Vietnamese (B1) 
• Italian (A1)