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The idea of using contemporary North Africa as an observation laboratory to understand the processes of political change, and in particular the dynamics of "democratisation" and "liberalisation", originated in 1998, during the International Conference on Algeria held at Laval University. It inspired a discussion panel on the topic of "The Maghreb Between Globalisation and Democratisation" at the 18th World Congress of Political Science in Quebec City in 2000. Officially founded at that time, GEPANC has since encouraged and organized intellectual exchanges among its members, away from political interference, in order to integrate the knowledge of Political Sociology available in North Africa, Europe and North America.

GEPANC later held an international seminar in Rabat, in 2002, where the hypothesis of the "clash of civilizations" was examined for inherent flaws, but also as an indicator of changes occurring on the international public stage. The results of our debates were presented at the19th World Congress of Political Science, held in Durban, South Africa in 2003.

Since its inception, GEPANC has been affiliated with the IPSA International Association of Political Science. It has also been generously supported by the Department of Information and Communication Studies at Laval University with logistical support for its website, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of Mohamed V University (Rabat-Agdal) for the Rabat conférence (2001), and UNESCO for the Rabat, Durban (2003) and Quebec (2005) seminars. Without the financial support of its partners, GEPANC would have been unable to gather high-caliber researchers from north-african countries (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt).