The academic area of diplomacy focuses on a variety of topics and different ways to resolve conflict. Students may learn about cultural diplomacy; communication strategies; political, economic and psychological strategies; leadership; and intelligence and counterintelligence.

France, officially the French Republic, is a unitary semi-presidential republic located mostly in Western Europe, with several overseas regions and territories.

The PhD is a doctoral degree, specifically called a "doctor of philosophy" degree. This is misleading because PhD holders are not necessarily philosophers (unless they earned their degree in philosophy!). That said, PhD recipients are able to engage in thought experiments, reason about problems, and solve problems in sophisticated ways.