Gilles Kepel

Gilles Kepel (born 30 June 1955, Paris) is a French political scientist, specialist of the Islam and contemporary Arab world. He is Professor at Sciences Po Paris, formerly known as Institute of Political Studies (IEP) in Paris and member of the Institut Universitaire de France.

He graduated in Arabic and philosophy, with two doctorates in sociology and political sciences. He also taught at New York University in 1994, and at Columbia University in 1995. He chaired the Philippe Roman chair in History and International Relations at the London School of Economics in 2009-2010.

Gilles Kepel is the author of several books, since the publication of The Prophet and the Pharaoh: Islamist movements in Sadat's Egypt, in 1984, his books are translated all over the world. He contributes regularly to Le Monde, the New-York Times, La Repubblica, El Pais, and several Arab medias.

Gilles Kepel is a member of the High Council of the Arab World Institute and Academic Director of the Kuwait Program at IEP.