The research topic focuses on the French intellectual field of the last decade of the 20th century, which is understood in the light of intellectual actions and representations of the process of destruction of the second Yugoslavia and the wars for its legacy. The events that occurred in Yugoslavia in the 1990s are perceived as a "affair" in the sense given by the French sociologists Luc Boltanski and Élisabeth Claverie. The main objective of this research work was therefore to answer several decisive questions based on a prosopographical approach of intellectuals, as well as to analyse their actions and representations. More precisely, the question was: a) What are the modalities and forms of intervention in the polemical space built around the "Yugoslav affair" (1991-1999); b) How is this given space structured through competition and antagonisms between individuals and groups? c) What is the logic of receiving the destruction of Yugoslavia in France? In other words: is it mainly linked to events in the former Yugoslavia or to political issues within France? Have these different representations evolved, and in what ways? d) How do the positions taken fit into the dominant balance of power in France? Have they strengthened existing structures? To answer these questions, I used the tools of political sociology, historical sociology, sociology of knowledge and sociology of intellectuals. The most important theoretical foundations have been drawn mainly from Pierre Bourdieu's field theory, Antonio Gramsci's theory of cultural hegemony and Vojin Milic's theory of social functions of ideas and knowledge. As for the research methods used, I used multiple correspondence analysis, socio-historical analysis, interviews and critical discourse analysis.