The Arab Center for Research and Political Studies in Paris (CAREP Paris), was established based on a vision shared by Arab and French academics and researchers who were unanimous in believing that Arab knowledge and intellectual production, and likewise the production of research about the Arab World, are overly limited in Europe generally and in France in particular. In accordance with this vision, CAREP Paris has laid out the following principal aims: to participate in the production and dissemination of academic knowledge from and to the Arab World; to present qualitative and non-stereotypical readings of important issues; to establish a center of expertise on the countries of the Arab World bringing together, alongside European academics from the social sciences, their equivalents from the Arab academic community; and to create an open space or discussion and exchange hosting cultural and academic events.

The Center also seeks to support translation to and from Arabic in the social sciences and support academic and intellectual exchange between Arab and European researchers, in order to produce knowledge about the future of the Arab World and its relations to European states.