60, rue des Cévennes 75015
- Paris.
Les Cahiers de l'Orient
Devoting a journal to the Near East is
not simply a matter of intellectual self-consciousness but
more akin to a necessity. The Near East today is an explosive
region of our world. A number of the major preoccupations
of our time are concentrated in this part of the planet
and an important role in its development is being played
out there.
Indeed, the Near East is still a region of crises
and its bloody conflicts and wars become confused in our
minds. Violence seems to be its definition: states rising
up against each other, peoples against peoples, people against
the State…From the Israeli-Arab wars, to the war between
Iraq and Iran, not forgetting the Lebanon, the Near East
is a real trouble centre.
However, beyond political struggles and murderous conflicts,
real upheavals are being operated within Near Eastern societies
and at more than one level.
Tensions are strained between economic and social modernisation
on the one hand, and fundamentalist ideas on the other.
The philosophies of authenticity clash violently with models
borrowed from the West. |
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The economic problems
which hinge mainly on oil, its revenues and its spin-offs,
raise crucial questions as much to do with the development
strategies followed, as with the integration of the Near
East into the international economic system. Finally, how
can it be forgotten that the stakes of world détente
are constantly being defined and redefined in this coveted
and disputed region?
Faced with this fascinating tangle of problems and questions,
the aim of Les Cahiers de L'Orient (Notebooks from the East)
is to grasp the reality.
Les Cahiers de l'Orient is resolutely situated where dialogue
and tolerance come together. And if they have chosen the
French language as the instrument and vehicle of their expression,
it is because they are convinced that the geographical and
intellectual area of the French-speaking world is one of
the special homes of freedom.
And how is it possible not to be interested in the world
of immigration, astride the two shores of the Mediterranean?
More than five per cent of the French population is of North
African origin and Muslim. There is no doubt that forty
years ago France had the best specialists in Islam and the
best Orientalists. Today, the national community seems to
be unaware of the foundations of the East and of Islam.
This lack of knowledge and this ignorance often lead to
fear and rejection.
In this context, Les Cahiers de l'Orient want to be the
embodiment of the community of destiny between the peoples
of the two shores of the Mediterranean and the peoples of
France.
A special platform for debate and expression, in the space
of ten years Les Cahiers de l'Orient has become recognised
as a reference journal. The case files and the analyses
they publish are a working tool and a valuable reflection
at political, economic and socio-cultural level, for:
40% of company directors.
37% of top executives or readers from a variety of
professions: bankers, engineers, lawyers, teachers…
7% of University students.
16% of decision-making Institutes, Embassies, United
Nations, CEPS, IHESI…
7% of libraries and institutions.
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