CEPEL

Paul ALLIES

Biography 

Paul Alliès was born in Pézenas on June 8, 1945. He studied at the Faculté de Droit de Montpellier, graduating in Public Law (1968) and Political Science (1969). During his military service as a lieutenant in Germany, he was recruited as a public law assistant, before becoming a lecturer in political science at Montpellier Law School. He became secretary of the SNESup (FEN). In 1977, he defended his dissertation with the highest distinction. In 1991, he became professor of political science. In the meantime, he was delegated to the cultural services of the French Embassy in Italy in 1985, and carried out several long-term missions abroad (Mexico City in 1982, Beijing in 1987).

He was elected Director of the UFR Droit in 1990, then Dean of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Management and Vice-President of the University of Montpellier 1 (until 1995). He relaunched university cooperation with Lebanon, as well as with Louisville (USA) and Quebec. He was an elected member of the Conseil National des Universités from 1982 to 1995, and of the Comité National du CNRS (political science section) from 1987 to 1991 and from 1995 to 2000. Between 1998 and 2001, he was an expert on university clusters for the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research. Appointed by the French Minister of Education, Lionel Jospin, in 2000, he failed to create an IEP in Montpellier, but obtained recognition for a 2nd cycle in political science, distinct from the legal studies curriculum.

He has been a member of several scientific boards (IDATE, GRALE, Institut de la Décentralisation, Plan urbain, Annales de la Recherche Urbaine, etc.).

CEPEL activities during its term of office

  • Creation of CEPEL in 1987 (Centre Comparatif d'Etudes des Politiques Publiques en Europe du Sud, CNRS joint research unit).
  • Three objectives: to emancipate political science research from an exclusively legal environment / to initiate research on the theme of public policy / to explore Southern Europe in political science.
  • Idea: federate comparative research correlated to a shared problematic and a politically situated "region", in order to maximize a team's visibility and attractiveness.
  • First results achieved thanks to the support of the CNRS Regional Directorate and the National Committee's Commission 40 (allocation of researchers, recruitment of doctoral students, research contracts, organization of seminars and colloquia).
  • Building networks with universities in southern countries (Spain, Greece, Portugal).
  • Creation of an association, the Observatoire des Politiques Publiques en Europe du Sud (OPPES), to facilitate the integration and circulation of young researchers in 1995.
  • Pôle Sud magazine founded in 1994,with support from CNRS
  • Inclusion of Pôle Sud in online catalogs of scientific publications (Persée, Cairn) from 2009 onwards
  • Development of research partnerships with universities in Southern Europe: with the Institut de Ciences Politiques i Socials de Barcelone (ICPS), establishment of an Observatory of Political Change in Catalonia and Languedoc-Roussillon in June 2004. Since then, an annual seminar has been held alternately in Barcelona and Montpellier, and has led to publications on both sides.