Claude Karnoouh has been a researcher at the CNRS (the French National Centre for Scientific Research) from 1968 to march 2005. A specialist in political anthropology and philosophy, he has taught in Paris and, from 1991 to 2003, at the Cluj University (Romania). Specialized in the history of ideas in eastern Europe, he has investigated the following themes : the relations between popular culture and scholarly culture, and the ideological bases of nation-states in central and eastern Europe. Since 1990 he has studied the cultural and political aspects of the transition.