Jean-Pierre Filiu (born in Paris, 1961) is a French professor of Middle East studies at Sciences Po, Paris School of International Affairs, an Orientalist and an Arabist.

Jean-Pierre Filiu
Filiu in 2015
Born (1961-12-19) 19 December 1961 (age 62)
Paris, France
EducationINALCO
Sciences Po
Occupation(s)Historian
Islamologist

Life and career

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Before joining Sciences Po in 2006, Filiu was a career-diplomat who served as a junior officer representing France in Jordan and the US, before becoming the French Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) in Syria (1996–99) and in Tunisia (2002-2006). Filiu was also diplomatic adviser to the French minister of Interior (1990–91), the minister of Defense (1991–93) and the Prime Minister (2000-2002). He was one of the ten independent experts that President François Hollande designated to contribute to the 2013 White Book for National Defense and Security[citation needed].

Filiu authored or co-authored some twenty books, including "The Arab Revolution, ten lessons from the democratic uprising",.[1] He later authored "Gaza, a history" (2014, Palestine Book Award) and "From Deep State to Islamic State, the Arab counter-revolution and its jihadi legacy" (2015), "Revisiting the Arab uprisings, the politics of a revolutionary moment" (2018).

His previous research focused on the multi-faceted adaptation of Islam to globalized modernity. He described the conflicting dialectics between local and global jihad. And he highlighted how radical movements try to "modernize" traditional concepts, giving them a new meaning previously unknown in Islam, for instance in the case of the caliphate.[2] His "Apocalypse in Islam"[3] was awarded the main prize (Augustin-Thierry) by the Rendez-vous de l'Histoire, held every October in the city of Blois.

He has been visiting professor at the Columbia University (New York City, NY) and Georgetown University, invited as a guest speaker to American universities, Harvard Kennedy School (Cambridge, MA)[4] and the James Baker Institute (Houston, TX),[5] as well as think tanks.:[6]

Other activities

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Filiu has been interviewed by Christiane Amanpour,[7] BBC/The World,[8] and Al Jazeera,[9] and has been a guest to the English-speaking branch of France 24.[10] He also published five graphic novels and wrote the lyrics of two songs, one about the conflict of the Gaza strip and the latter about the Syrian civil war.

References

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  1. ^ Review in the Telegraph (UK)
  2. ^ Articles in Prospect magazine [1] and in Le Monde diplomatique [2]
  3. ^ Presentation in Washington, on October 29, 2008
  4. ^ Lecture at the Belfer Center, March 5, 2013
  5. ^ Lecture at the James Baker Institute, March 27, 2012
  6. ^ Lecture at the New America Foundation, on February 15, 2010
  7. ^ ABC "Around the world", January, 17, 2013[dead link]
  8. ^ and the Arab spring, March 5, 2013
  9. ^ "French historian: Israel destroyed 4,000-year-old culture in Gaza". Al-Jazeera. 11 January 2024.
  10. ^ Ramadan in revolutionary Aleppo, July 31, 2013