I was trained within the tradition of French political philosophy and intellectual history, which places considerable emphasis on tracing the sociology of knowledge—the power structures and social networks that make the production of ideas possible. Unlike classical ‘history of ideas’ approaches, I draw upon multidisciplinary approaches and perspectives. I find works in political theory, political science and comparative politics, critical geopolitics, and cultural anthropology inspiring. I also employ multiple methodological approaches, ranging from surveys and big-data databases to content and discourse analysis, as well as in-depth fieldwork and interviews with actors.


My first research axis relates to contemporary critiques of liberalism, and especially the production of conservative or illiberal ideologies in post-socialist countries and in particular in Russia. My first MA thesis was devoted to what would later become Central Europe’s first illiberal wave: nostalgia for the idea of Mitteleuropa. I then moved to explore ideologies in Russia in their different ideational constellations, and their impact on domestic and foreign policy.


My PhD examined the Russian school of Slavophilism in the 19th century and compared the way it used the concept of Aryan identity to the racialist interpretations emerging during the same period in Western Europe, especially Germany. My habilitation (2nd PhD) at Sciences Po Paris dealt with contemporary nationalism in Putin’s Russia. Since then, my research has systematically articulated the domestic and international realms, looking at how Russia’s political culture and philosophy has impacted the country’s foreign policy and soft power outreach. I have covered such topics as the Kremlin’s ideological construction, its ecosystems and main ideologists, the reception of Heidegger in Russia and the use of his thought for political purposes. My latest book, Ideology and Meaning-Making under the Putin Regime (Stanford University Press, 2024) concludes a decade of research on the topic.


I gradually moved toward studying Russia’s soft power abroad and its reception among European and American far-right movements. I elaborated the notion that contrary to the usual definitions of soft power as universalist, Russia has developed a particularist, “niche” soft power that allows it to speak to different audiences abroad with different ideological repertoires. Since 2014, I lead a collective of scholars investigating the connections between Russian, European, and North American far-right movements, ideologies, and individuals across the 20th century up to today. I also work on the way Russia dialogues with the Global South.

Moving away from Eastern European case studies, I founded and have since 2020 directed the Illiberalism Studies Program at GW, which studies the different faces of illiberal politics and thought in today’s world, taking into account the diversity of their cultural context, their intellectual genealogy, the sociology of their popular support, and their implications on the international scene. It addresses questions related to democratic backlash, the spread of authoritarianism, post-liberalism, the far right, populism, and nationalism, and serves as a platform for debating the future of the liberalism/illiberalism relationship.

This conceptual turn in my career produced the Oxford Handbook of Illiberalism, a collection of 40+ chapters under my editorship exploring the notion of illiberalism from different philosophical and social-science perspectives. I am now especially interested in the grassroots mechanisms underpinning the popular support given to illiberal projects, as well as of the cultural products and social practices that structure illiberal communities, with case studies from France and the US.

My second research axis revolves around the environment and sustainability, in which I combine both fundamental multidisciplinary and more policy-oriented research. I was privileged to be able to conduct fieldwork in about twenty Arctic cities in Russia every year from 2013 to 2018. I joined the Arctic Program at The George Washington University, which has consolidated into a strong international inter- and multidisciplinary team. I have experience working with climatologists and geographers who specialize in soil and sand, permafrost, and housing and energy infrastructure in a time of climate change. I have published widely on Arctic urban regimes and cultures, on Polar Islam and on the Russian High North’s multinational identity.

For two decades, I worked on Central Asia, especially on Kazakhstan, studying the region’s nationhood constructions and political trajectories, as well as on the regional context and Central Asia’s relationship with China and Russia and on migrations in the Eurasian space. I was Associate Director and then Director of the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at GW between 2015 and 2022 and founded and led several programs there. I am also Advisor with Observo, the think tank of the French-Russian Chamber of Commerce.