The Centre for Economic, Legal, and Social Study and Documentation (CEDEJ in French) is part of the Joint Entity of French Research Institutes Abroad (Unités Mixtes des Instituts Français de Recherche à l’Etranger, UMIFRE). This organization has a presence on five continents, with strong representation in the Mediterranean and Middle East (see the UMIFRE map).
Created by the Franco-Egyptian cooperation agreement of 1968, CEDEJ is a multidisciplinary research center whose work focuses on all disciplines of the human and social sciences in contemporary Egypt, including political science, law, economics, geography, sociology, anthropology, 20th century history, and others.
As of 2016, the center has 34 permanent staff members, including 25 contractors, 6 local agents, and 4 researchers, in addition to interns, scholars, researchers and associates.
CEDEJ traces its ancestry back the French School of Law of Cairo (1956-1980), whose holdings were acquired by the Centre.
The Centre’s main vocation is to welcome researchers and students of various nationalities and offer them access to information resources, present research at seminars and conferences, and publish research. This includes CEDEJ’s journal, Egypt/Arab World (in French: EMA, Egypte/Monde Arabe), available online at revues.org.
Since it was established, the Centre has published nearly 300 books.
CEDEJ aims to produce knowledge relevant to the human and social sciences in Egypt and the wider region. It works in partnership with other research and training institutions, both local and foreign. The center focuses on empirical research and facilitates researchers’ access to the field.
The CEDEJ is under the joint supervision of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development (MAEDI) and the National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS). It has been considered a Service and Research Unit since 2006 under the title USR 3123.
These sponsors (MAEDI and CNRS) fund the annual budget.
CEDEJ also is also considered a financially self-sufficient establishment (EAF, Etablissement à Autonomie Financière) and is associated with the Department of Cooperation and Cultural Action of the Embassy of France in the Arab Republic of Egypt.
Located in Cairo, the CEDEJ office moved from Mohandiseen to Wust el-Balad and Mounira until finally settling in Garden City in 2016. CEDEJ’s sister organization in Khartoum, CEDEJ-K, came under the umbrella of the French Section of Sudanese Archeology (SFDAS Section Française d’Archéologie Soudanaise) in Khartoum in 2016.
The CEDEJ has significant assets which include a library holding over 35,000 titles and a searchable online catalog, statistics, a map library focused on Egypt with digital and georeferencing services (see here), and thematic press records from 1976 to the present, most of which can be found through the Bibalex program.
