Marlene Laruelle, Ph.D., is Research Professor of International Affairs and Political Science at the Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University. She is also Director of the Illiberalism Studies Program at GW and the former director of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES). Trained in political philosophy, she explores the notion of illiberalism and how nationalism and conservative values are becoming mainstream in different cultural contexts. She has been working on Russia's ideological landscape and its outreach abroad for more than two decades. She is now working on the grassroots mechanisms underpinning the popular support given to illiberal projects, as well as the cultural products and social practices that structure illiberal communities in Europe and in the United States.