Olivier Roy (born 1949) is a research director at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and a lecturer for both the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (IEP). Since 1984, he has acted as a consultant to the French Foreign Ministry. In 1988, Roy served as a United Nations Office for Coordinating Relief in Afghanistan (UNOCA) consultant. Beginning in August 1993, Roy served as special OSCE representative to Tajikistan until February 1994, at which time he was selected as head of the OSCE mission to Tajikistan, a position he held until October 1994.
Roy received an "Agregation" in Philosophy and a Master's in Persian language and civilization in 1972 from the French Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales. In 1996, he received his PhD in Political Science from the IEP.
Roy is the author of numerous books on subjects including Iran, Islam, Asian politics. These works include Globalized Islam: The search for a new ummah, Today's Turkey: A European State? and The Illusions of September 11. He also serves on the editorial board of the academic journal Central Asian Survey.
Roy wrote widely on the subject of the riots in French suburbs in November 2005 saying they should not be seen as religiously inspired as some commentators said.
His most recent work is Secularism Confronts Islam (Columbia, 2007). The book offers a perspective on the place of Islam in secular society and looks at the diverse experiences of Muslim immigrants in the West. Roy examines how Muslim intellectuals have made it possible for Muslims to live in a secularized world while maintaining the identity of a "true believer."
References
Biography – Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches International
Major Publications
Leibniz et la Chine Vrin, 1972
Afghanistan, Islam et modernité politique Le Seuil, 1985.
L'Echec de l'Islam politique Le Seuil, 1992
The Failure of Political Islam Harvard, 1994
Généalogie de l'islamisme, Paris Hachette, 1995
Iran : comment sortir d'une révolution religieuse? (avec Farhad Khosrokhavar) Le Seuil, 1999
The New Central Asia: the creation of nations NYU Press, 2000
Les illusions du 11 septembre, Paris Le Seuil, 2002
La Turquie aujourd’hui, un pays européen? (dir.) Universalis, 2004
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