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Dugin Eurasianism: a window on the minds of the Russian elite or an intellectual ploy?

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Abstract

This paper considers the views of Alexander Dugin, a leading proponent of Eurasianism in contemporary Russia. The point of his teaching is the preservation of the traditional social/cultural make-up of each civilization. He also believes that the Russian Slavs together with the minorities of the Russian Federation constitute a quasi-unity of Eurasian civilization. He emphasizes that globalism, led by the USA, is a mortal threat to the cultural identity of Russia/Eurasia and all other civilizations. For this reason the USA and Russia are locked in mortal conflict with one other. At the outset of his intellectual career, in post-Soviet Russia, Dugin believed that Putin would follow the Eurasian road. It would be wrong to see Dugin as an intellectual guru at the head of the post-Soviet elite. Still, his views are important, for they indicate the kinds of ideas that circulate in the minds of the Russian elite.

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Notes

  1. Thiess (1960), Böss (1961), Wesson (1974), Ignatow (1992), Purselainen (1998), Laruelle (2002), Tchantouridze (2001), and Kaiser (2004).

  2. Dugin’s Eurasianism evolved from historical Eurasianism and is especially indebted to the writings of Lev Gumilev. Gumilev died soon after the collapse of the USSR; his wife Natalija died only recently. “Khronika Evrazijstva” (2005).

  3. Maler (2005). In 2005, Dugin proclaimed that he had been a Eurasianist for a long time and had propagandized the idea for 16 years; see Dugin (1994, 1996a, b).

  4. There is, of course, no reliable information as to whether Berezovsky indeed provided money to Zavtra.

  5. Dugin (2005e).

  6. Posidelov (2005).

  7. Ibid.

  8. Ingram (2001).

  9. Tsygankov (2003).

  10. Umland (2003).

  11. Dunlop (2001).

  12. Cowgill (2005).

  13. Dugin (2005a).

  14. Maler (2005).

  15. Ibid. Such ethnic Russians in the republics of the former USSR are seen as oppressed by a “titular” ethnic group. Dugin usually regards narrow, racially based nationalism, in all its forms, as an extremely dangerous creed that prevented Russians from uniting with fellow Eurasianists. But in some cases he seems to forget about the danger of nationalism, in this case Russian nationalism, and regards it as a rather positive development.

  16. Tukmakov (2005).

  17. See his classic 1843 Empire of the Czar, Custine (1989).

  18. Duchinski (1864).

  19. Kazinform news, December 22, 2004.

  20. Dugin (2003).

  21. Dugin (2005h).

  22. Buchanan (2005).

  23. Dugin (2005j).

  24. Dugin (2005d).

  25. Dugin (2005i).

  26. Dugin (2005a).

  27. Kolesnikov (2004).

  28. Dobaev (2005).

  29. Dugin (2005e).

  30. These references to the “army and navy” as the only true ally of the Russian state are direct quotations from Russian emperor Alexander III.

  31. Dugin (2005f).

  32. Dugin (2005j).

  33. Dugin (2005c).

  34. One should, of course, remember that Dugin’s rather bleak vision of Europeans as not able to create a mighty Eurasian empire contradicts statements in which he regards Europeans as in the process of building a Eurasian empire with France and Germans as the nucleus.

  35. Dugin (2004a).

  36. Dugin (2005f).

  37. Dugin (2004b).

  38. Ibid.

  39. Dugin (2001).

  40. Cowgill (2005).

  41. Maler (2005).

  42. Dugin (2004b).

  43. Dugin (2001).

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  1. Department of History, Indiana University, P.O. Box 7111, South Bend, IN, 46634-7111, USA

    Dmitry Shlapentokh

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Shlapentokh, D. Dugin Eurasianism: a window on the minds of the Russian elite or an intellectual ploy?. Stud East Eur Thought 59, 215–236 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-007-9030-y

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