Against the thallasocracy: fascism and traditionalism in Alexander Dugin’s neo-Eurasianist philosophy
Date
2015
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
This thesis discusses the ideological makeup of the Russian right wing philosopher Alexander
Dugin. Tracing Dugin’s ideological influences from early Eurasianism, the European New
Right and esoteric religious beliefs such as Perennial Traditionalism, the thesis then goes on
to place Dugin’s body of thought within a larger debate on defining fascism and whether
Dugin can be considered a fascist. The thesis emphasizes that Dugin’s Neo-Eurasianist
imperial project disqualifies him from any typical fascist taxonomy. Instead, Neo-
Eurasianism represents a genuinely unique strain of extreme right wing thought that, though
shares many similarities with historic fascism, nonetheless cannot be considered fascist due
to Dugin’s profoundly anti-modern vision and the supranational emphasis of his imperial
objectives in which Russia plays a major role - but a role that places the Russian nation in a
greater cultural, geographical, and civilizational identity. Ultimately this thesis contests some
scholars’ interpretations of Dugin’s worldview as a fundamentally ethnocentric or even racist
Russian nationalism. Rather, this thesis argues that Dugin holds a fundamentally religious
understanding of reality that sees nations as manifestations of a spiritual, rather than a
biological, essence. Thus it precludes Dugin from any purely biological racism. à la National
Socialism.