Jean-Pierre Filiu (Paris, 1961) is professor of Middle East studies at Sciences Po, Paris School of International Affairs. A historian and an Arabist, he has also been visiting professor at Columbia University (New York, NY) and Georgetown University (Washington, DC). He has been invited as a guest speaker to various American universities and think tanks, including the Harvard Kennedy School (Cambridge, MA) and the James Baker Institute (Houston, TX). His "Apocalypse in Islam" was awarded the main prize (Augustin-Thierry) by the French History convention (Rendez-vous de l'Histoire), held every October in the city of Blois (this book, published in 2011 by the University of California Press is a in-depth study of Islamic eschatology and its contemporary narratives).
Before joining Sciences Po in 2006, Jean-Pierre Filiu was a career-diplomat who served as a junior officer in Jordan and the USA, 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.
Jean-Pierre Filiu authored some ten books, including "The Arab Revolution, ten lessons from the democratic uprising", written in English and published in 2011 by C. Hurst & Co. (in the UK) and Oxford University Press (in the USA). This was the first academic attempt at explaining the movement that led to the demise of the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt in January–February 2011. 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. His works have been translated and/or published in a dozen languages.
He has been interviewed by Christiane Amanpour, by BBC/The World and is a frequent guest to the English-speaking branch of France 24. He has also published two graphic novels, including Best of Enemies (SelfMadeHero, 2012), illustrated by David B. Finally, he wrote the lyrics of two popular songs, one about life in the Gaza strip, the other about the Syrian revolution.Continue Reading »
