Olivier Roy is research director in the Humanities & Social Sciences sector of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris and has been a consultant with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1984. Roy has served as a consultant for the United Nations Office of the Coordinator for Afghanistan, Special Envoy for the OSCE in Tajikistan, and head for OSCE's mission for Tajikistan. He has delivered lectures and seminars at leading institutions in Europe and the United States, and he is the author of numerous articles and books including Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah, Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan, The Failure of Political Islam, and The New Central Asia: The Creation of Nations.