Marlene Laruelle is Director and Research Professor at the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES), Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University. Dr Laruelle is also Director of GW’s Central Asia Program. She received her Ph.D. in history at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Cultures (INALCO) and her post-doctoral degree in political science at Sciences-Po in Paris. She has published widely on ideology, nationalism, and identity and their impact on domestic and foreign policies in the post-Soviet space.