Marlène Laruelle, winner of Choose France for Science, rolls out her illiberalism studies program in Paris

French researcher, Marlène Laruelle, is a specialist in contemporary ideologies and founder of the illiberalism studies program, Illiberalism Studies Program, established at George Washington University (USA). Selected for Choose France for Science, its program is setting up in Paris, at Inalco.

A colloquium to launch the AI and Ideology: The Political Transformations of Tomorrow program will be held Tuesday, April 28 at Inalco's Maison de la Recherche.

This event will address how artificial intelligence is shaped by ideological presuppositions, political values and competing visions of social order. It will also pose the question of how it is transforming contemporary debates on democracy and liberalism.

The program's Paris branch

The program's Paris branch focuses on two axes.

First, the intersections between technology and illiberalism, examining how digital infrastructures, platform governance, artificial intelligence and informational ecosystems are reconfiguring the production and circulation of illiberal ideas and challenging democracy.

Secondly, illiberal trajectories in the Suds, where challenges to liberalism are often expressed through civilizational narratives, postcolonial critiques and the idea of alternative modernities.

Choose France for Science

The first axis is supported by the Choose France for Science program, while the second is in keeping with Inalco's long intellectual tradition in non-Western areal studies and is closely linked with the RESEARCH PROJECT DÉCRIPT, dedicated to the study of the return of civilizationism to the world stage.

With the evolution of the field of research in the United States it was clear that it was going to become increasingly difficult for the program to continue operating. When the opportunity arose to apply to Choose France for Science, it seemed obvious that it was time to move the program to Europe.

Interview with Marlène Laruelle (MESRI, 27/02/2026 - Video production by DELCOM 1 - Bureau de la communication de l'enseignement supérieur et de la recherche

Steering the program

Marlène Laruelle is a historian and political scientist by training, specializing in political philosophy on contemporary ideologies. She has long worked on Eastern Europe and Russia, and now mainly studies the USA and Europe.

For over fifteen years, she was Professor of International Relations and Political Science at George Washington University, Washington, where she directed the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies.

Illiberalism Studies Program

In 2020, Marlène created the "Illiberalism Studies Program". It was the first research program to propose moving away from the concept of illiberal democracy, which was then being used to define Central European regimes, and to propose looking at the concept of illiberalism as an alternative political offer that unfolds in all political and cultural contexts, including in our liberal democracies.

Illiberalism is a topic everywhere in the US and Europe, and it seemed important to have the opportunity to participate in debates on democratic renewal in Europe itself, not from the US. The two systems are different. Until recently, the American system had a financial clout that the European system does not have. But it also has fragilities that have recently been revealed in terms of its dependence on financial and political stakes.