Henry Laurens

Professor Henry Laurens (b. 1954) holds the Chair of Contemporary History of the Arab World at Collège de France since 2003. His research focuses on Arab-East-West relations, national trajectories in Egypt, Syria, and Palestine, and the impact of international diplomacy on Middle Eastern societies. He employs global Mediterranean history and Arab memorial literature to analyze power dynamics and political cultures.

• Education: Agrégation in History (1980), DEA (1979), and Arabic diploma from Inalco (1981).
• Research: Explores the Eastern Crises series, Arab nationalism failures, Ottoman provincial evolution, and French comics' depiction of the Arab world.
• Teaching: Courses since 2019 analyze international relations shaping Middle Eastern societies, with 2025 lectures on the 1970 Eastern Crisis and post-2001 Palestine.
• Collaborations: Partnerships with CAREP (Paris) and Saint Joseph University (Beirut) for fieldwork and seminars.