Olivier Roy is a professor at l'École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris, and a research director at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique. A world authority on Islam and politics, Roy's books are The Failure of Political Islam, The New Central Asia: The Creation of Nations, Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah, and, with Mariam Abou Zahab, Islamist Networks: The Afghan-Pakistan Connection.