In Paris, he attended Raymond Aron’s seminar at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes and became friends with Louis Aragon, Elsa Triolet and Fernand Braudel, inter alia.

[3] In 1980, Pierre du Bois was appointed Professor at the Institut Universitaire d’Etudes Européennes in Geneva and from this point on, issues of European politics, integration and identity became an increasingly important area of focus in his teaching and research.

He also served on numerous cultural and scientific committees: Swiss Association for Wilton Park (1984-1994), Forum Helveticum (1987-2001, Vice-President 1992-2001), Rencontres suisses (1987-2001, President 1996-2001), Cercle littéraire de Lausanne (from 1989), Foundation Titulescu (from 1990), Société européenne de culture (from 1990), European Community Studies Association (from 1995), Europaeum (1995-2001), Fondazione Venezia per la ricerca sulla pace (from 1997), Société d’études économiques et sociales (from 1998), Centro per la diffusione della cultura (from 2000) and Kommission für die Diplomatischen Dokumente der Schweiz (from 2000).

[14] In a context where official records are unreliable and in which many of the key events took place off-the-record, first person accounts from many of the major protagonists provide the basis for a unique insight into the “law of the jungle” in which succession is determined in a communist regime.

The analysis of the war between Catholics and Reformists, between seven Conservative cantons and the remainder of the Confederation, leads to an inevitable rethinking of the myth of a peaceful, harmonious country: “diving into the background materials, I discovered a reality far removed from the Epinal prints of the 19th century.

Despite Pierre du Bois’ clear personal position in favour of joining, these works provide an in-depth historical analysis of the “forces of resistance” opposed to Switzerland’s membership.

[21] Published posthumously in 2008, Pierre du Bois’ final work, Histoire de l’Europe monétaire 1945-2005: Euro qui comme Ulysse…, traces the vicissitudes of European monetary policy in the post-war decades.