Home page of Bertrand M. Roehner roehner@lpthe.jussieu.fr

Created: 6 October 2002. Last update: 17 April 2024

LPTHE, University Paris 6 (now part of Sorbonne University)

4 place Jussieu, F-75005 Paris, France,

Mobile phone (when calling from France): 06 22 36 20 05

My centers of interest are illustrated by the book covers shown below.

  • Download (click)

  • Photo gallery (click)

  • WHAT IS ECONOPHYSICS? Its origin, rational and purpose (click)

  • The suppression of the Loyalists in the American Revolution (click)

  • WHAT IS CLIOPHYSICS? When history becomes a real science (click)

  • Determinants of separatist movements (click)

  • Driving Forces in Physical, Biological and Socio-economic Phenomena (2007) (click)

  • Teaching material (including various data sets) (click)

  • Films and songs (click)

  • Interaction Maximization as an Evolution Principle for Social Systems (8 chapters) (click)

  • Seminars given in Singapore, China, Japan (2007, 2008, 2009) (click)

  • Probing social links (click) (i) Presentation of the project. (ii) Lectures on the principle of interaction maximization (8 chapters). (iii) Role played by social segmentation and fragmentation in the depression which began in 2008 (5 chapters). (iv) Experiments about links in insect populations. (v) BOLA: Beijing archive

  • Military occupation episodes: Japan, Germany, Iceland, Hawaii, China, South Korea, ... (click)

  • The prominent role of the United States in world affairs (click)

  • What can population pyramids tell us about past events? (click)

  • Apprentissage de la programmation (click)

  • CV (click)

  • Scanned articles (click)

  • Articles and invited talks (click)

  • Book summaries (click)

  • Papers in biodemography (click)

  • Two studies about the relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China (click)

  • Book in Chinese introducing a scientific analysis of historical events; presentation in English (click)
  • Presentation in Chinese of the same book (click)

  • A book about past, present and future relations between the USA and China. (click) This book (187 p.) can be bought in USB-key form at a price of 4 euros (mailing cost included). The order form can be found here (click)

    Book covers (see below; it may take a few seconds to load the 11 images)



    Left: Economica (1991) ---- Right: Larousse (1996)


    Left: Springer-Verlag (1995) ---- Right: Springer-Verlag (2000)


    Left: Elsevier (2001) ---- Right: Cambridge U.P. (2002)


    Left: ``Pattern and Repertoire in History'' Harvard U.P. (2002) ---- Right: Rowman-Littlefield (2002)


    Left: Odile Jacob (2004) ---- Cambridge U.P. (2007)


    Left: UPMC, LPTHE (2008) (click on cover to download) -- Right: Springer (2009, Second edition with 4 new chapters about neoliberalism)

  • The book below examines the rules which govern separatist movements and the mechanisms through which they manifest themselves. The three main factors appear to be: (i) The lack of inter-personal interactions with the rest of the country.
    (ii) A separate language.
    (iii) An historical background as an autonomous or independent entity.
    (you can click on the cover to read and download the book)


  • The book below proposes the conjecture that in a long-term perspective (with ``long-term'' meaning across centuries) social systems characterized by little inter-personal interactions (due for instance to social segmentation) tend to work ineffectively. As soon as an opportunity arises, the segmentation will be suppressed resulting in a new, more efficient, social organization with more links and interactions. A large part of the book is devoted to the question of how to estimate the strength of social interactions.
    (you can click on the cover to read and download the book)


  • Below is a book about foreign interference in China starting with the two Opium Wars of the mid-nineteenth century. In particular, it gives an account of the role of US troops in China in the wake of World War II (1945-1949).
    (you can click on the cover to read and download the book)


  • Below is a book about the US occupation of South Korea (1945-1948) and the subsequent relations between the two countries.
    (you can click on the cover to read and download the book)


  • Below is a book about Hawaii while under military emergency status during World War II.
    (you can click on the cover to read and download the book)


  • Below is a book about Iceland under military occupation, first by Britain and then by the United States.
    (you can click on the cover to read and download the book)


  • Below is a book which explains how, through a very clever policy which started in World War II, the USA was able to get a prominent position in Europe.
    Le livre ci-dessous explique comment, par une politique très habile du Département d'Etat et du Pentagone, les Etats-Unis ont réussi à acquérir une position dominante en Europe.
    (you can click on the cover to read and download the book)


  • Below is a book about US-China relations from 1975 to 2015 seen in comparative perspective.
    (you can click on the cover to read and download the book)


  • Below is a book about US-China relations from 2010 to 2017 seen in comparative perspective. It also provides a conjecture for their future.
    (you can click on the cover to read and download the book)


  • Below is a book written in Chinese which has two objectives:
    (i) In line with ``Pattern and Repertoire'' (see above) it presents a methodology for the scientific analysis of historical recurrent events.
    (ii) Such a comparative analysis (which is very much in the spirit of the experimental investigations that are done in physics) is then applied to the successive conflicts which, since 1904, have resulted from attempts to control the Pacific rim. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the United States will never willingly accept a breach of its dominant position in the Pacific.

    The co-authors are three physics professors: Zengru Di, Ruiqi Li and Bertrand Roehner.

    Note: A condominium is a place where two powers share leadership. For instance, from 1906 to 1980, the New Hebrides islands were an Anglo-French condominium. This, however, is a very rare form of government.

    You can click on the cover below to read and download the book.


  • Below is a long article (53 pages, written in 2018) about the future of US-China relations in the decade 2018-2028 explored through the recurrent event methodology of cliophysics.
    (please, click on the cover to download the article)


  • Research interest key-words: Speculative trading, price peaks, sharp peak - flat through pattern, stock price bubbles, comparative history, analytical history, market integration, real estate prices, separatism and separatist uprisings, wheat prices, commodity prices, spatial arbitrage, spatial propagation of price fluctuations, social bonds, social cohesion, military occupation, resistance, suicide, apoptosis, intermarriage, mixed couples, white flight.

    Key-words for occupation episodes: Germany, Iceland, Japan, World War II, MacArthur, Eichelberger, SCAP, SCAPIN, SCAPINs, GHQ, Eighth Army, BCOF, military commission, provost court, court martial, offenses, Military Government, Military police, censorship, Schedule of Restricted Concerns, B-yen, black market, inflation, arson, fraternization, brawls, demonstrations, famine, Shinto.
    Key-words in Japanese for the book on the occupation of Japan (click)