Alexander Dugin: A 21st-Century Rasputin?

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Video originally published on July 25, 2024.

Aleksandr Dugin - The 21st-Century Rasputin Philip Carroll In the course of modern history, when one country, state or empire chooses to wage war upon someone, it often does so with some sort of ideological basis behind it - something intended to justify or add legitimacy to the decision to invade, even if only a token or dishonest one. The justification could be historical disagreements over territory and land division. Other times, it may be portrayed as a tactical or pre-emptive attack intended to curtail the ability of the enemy to wage war upon them, if they had been preparing to do so.

Key Takeaways

Aleksandr Dugin - The 21st-Century Rasputin Philip Carroll In the course of modern history, when one country, state or empire chooses to wage war upon someone, it often does so with some sort of ideological basis behind.
Other times still, the reason may be the supposed mistreatment of a minority by the state being targeted, in other words, a sort of protectionist intervention to alleviate the suffering at the hands of the host state.
His profile, his ideologies, and his philoshopy of neo-Eurasianism will be the subject of our video today.
These movements were often intellectual circles where like-minded individuals - an assortment of poets, philosophers, artists, and musicians - could share their criticisms of the system and discuss alternative political and philosophical ideas.
The NBP was a political youth organisation which combined Russian ultranationalism and anti-Western sentiment with left-wing patriotism and elements of punk and other subcultures.

Key Developments

Other times still, the reason may be the supposed mistreatment of a minority by the state being targeted, in other words, a sort of protectionist intervention to alleviate the suffering at the hands of the host state. The Russian War in Ukraine has been justified by the invading state and its executor-in-chief for - at various times - practically all of the above. This has included a historical claim to the Crimean peninsula, the supposed infringement by Ukraine upon Russian speakers’ rights, and the perceived security risk posed by Ukraine as a proxy for NATO, et cetera. But behind this creative kaleidoscope of reasons for the invasion, some suggest that there is, in fact, one ideologue whose dictums are the actual driving force behind Russia’s warmongering over the past two decades. A man seen to be Putin’s consigliere, or a figure playing the modern Rasputin to the modern-day Russian Tsar, and whose whims are those which underpin the Russian state's actions. That man is Aleksandr Dugin. His profile, his ideologies, and his philoshopy of neo-Eurasianism will be the subject of our video today. Aleksandr Dugin - from anti-communist dissident to ‘Putin’s Brain’ Despite operating largely in the wings of the Russian political machine, Aleksandr Dugin, to scholars of Russian geopolitical strategy in the past few years, is a well-known and much-documented figure. Dugin was born to a highly-ranked military family in Moscow in 1962. From a young age, he exhibited a keen interest in philosophy, mysticism, and radical political theories. In the 1970s, he for some time attended the Moscow Aviation Institute before being expelled, supposedly for his embrace of anti-communist ideas. He first began to rise to prominence as an opponent of the communist system in its twilight embers in the 1980s, after having become involved in various dissident movements that opposed the Soviet regime. These movements were often intellectual circles where like-minded individuals - an assortment of poets, philosophers, artists, and musicians - could share their criticisms of the system and discuss alternative political and philosophical ideas. One group Dugin reportedly became associated with was the Yužinski Circle, which was interested in the study of European and Oriental mysticism, black magic and the occult. The Circle operated in secrecy due to the risk of persecution by the KGB and other state security apparatuses, and Dugin's involvement in such environments exposed him to an emerging blend of anti-communist and but distinctly Russian nationalist literature, much of which was nonetheless banned in the Soviet Union. This environment fostered Dugin's evolving sentiments and his interest in radical political ideologies. During this time, in Moscow, Dugin also rubbed shoulders with Eduard Limonov, a controversial novelist, poet and libertine. In 1993, the pair founded what became known as National Bolshevik Party or NBP, alongside rock musicians Yegor Letov and Sergei Kurikhin.

Strategic Implications

His profile, his ideologies, and his philoshopy of neo-Eurasianism will be the subject of our video today. Aleksandr Dugin - from anti-communist dissident to ‘Putin’s Brain’ Despite operating largely in the wings of the Russian political machine, Aleksandr Dugin, to scholars of Russian geopolitical strategy in the past few years, is a well-known and much-documented figure. Dugin was born to a highly-ranked military family in Moscow in 1962. From a young age, he exhibited a keen interest in philosophy, mysticism, and radical political theories. In the 1970s, he for some time attended the Moscow Aviation Institute before being expelled, supposedly for his embrace of anti-communist ideas. He first began to rise to prominence as an opponent of the communist system in its twilight embers in the 1980s, after having become involved in various dissident movements that opposed the Soviet regime. The NBP was a political youth organisation which combined Russian ultranationalism and anti-Western sentiment with left-wing patriotism and elements of punk and other subcultures. It was described by Radio Free Europe as employing a (quote) “bizarre mixture of totalitarian and fascist symbols, geopolitical dogma, and national-patriotic demagoguery”. Dugin and his followers left the organisation in 1997, while Limonov continued to serve as founding leader until the NBP ultimately fell foul of Russian authorities and was outright banned in 2007. Although their alliance was short-lived, the period represented a cornerstone in Dugin’s later ideas, and further sharpened his ideological stance against communism. It was also in the 1990s that Dugin became a prominent advocate of ‘Eurasianism’ - something which would become the core of Dugin's ideological framework. In essence, Eurasianism dictated that Russia could not be understood as either a Western or oriental culture and should instead be understood as a separate civilisation entirely. The theory traced its origins to the period following the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, being rolled out largely through the writing of the emigré writer Nikolai Trubetzkoy in the 1920s. Trubetzkoy sought to portray Russia as an elaborate mix of Turkic, Slavic, Mongol and other Asian origins, and a sort of antidote to the West, which he considered decadent and of which he was bitterly critical. He called on Russian intellectuals to free themselves from their fixation on Europe, while emphasising the “legacy of Genghis Khan” to create a great continent-spanning Russian-Eurasian state. Fast forward to the 1990s, and Dugin’s ideas on Eurasianism, termed as neo-Eurasianism, were put forward in a 1997 book he authored called The Foundations of Geopolitics. This became a lauded work in Russia and compulsory reading in the Academy of the General Staff of the country’s armed forces for some time thereafter. For Dugin, neo-Eurasianism was not just a geopolitical strategy that advocated an expansive and powerful Russian state as advocated by Trubetzkoy but also a sort of cultural and pseudo-spiritual mission.

Risk and Uncertainty

These movements were often intellectual circles where like-minded individuals - an assortment of poets, philosophers, artists, and musicians - could share their criticisms of the system and discuss alternative political and philosophical ideas. One group Dugin reportedly became associated with was the Yužinski Circle, which was interested in the study of European and Oriental mysticism, black magic and the occult. The Circle operated in secrecy due to the risk of persecution by the KGB and other state security apparatuses, and Dugin's involvement in such environments exposed him to an emerging blend of anti-communist and but distinctly Russian nationalist literature, much of which was nonetheless banned in the Soviet Union. This environment fostered Dugin's evolving sentiments and his interest in radical political ideologies. During this time, in Moscow, Dugin also rubbed shoulders with Eduard Limonov, a controversial novelist, poet and libertine. In 1993, the pair founded what became known as National Bolshevik Party or NBP, alongside rock musicians Yegor Letov and Sergei Kurikhin. He believes in the revival of traditional values and the rejection of Western liberalism, which he sees as immoral and corrupting. This includes a strong emphasis on Orthodox Christianity, authoritarian governance, and the complete rejection of globalism and cosmopolitanism. The pseudoreligious element in Dugin’s withering criticism of the West is present in his writing: going on to describe the West as the “‘kingdom of the Antichrist’”, and its rise as (quote) the ‘fact of the Apocalypse’ (NOTE TO SIMON: page 20). And one other consistent theme throughout Dugin’s work is some very stark statements about the status and future of Ukraine - but more on that later. Despite its large variety of very extreme positions, the popularity of The Foundations of Geopolitics - especially in the final years of Boris Yeltsin’s Presidency and the Smuta of the 1990s - propelled him to prominence and allowed him access to the esteemed position of Head of the Sociology Department at Moscow State University. This despite having very few actual academic credentials other than his various publications. Ultimately, Dugin’s ideas would also find a home in the mind of an ambitious political figure who was fast rising to dominate Russian politics in the late 1990s and early 2000s and who, it is said, would later use his ideas as a dictum upon which to base his strategic decisions. That person is, of course, Vladimir Putin. Relationship with Vladimir Putin Aleksandr Dugin's relationship with the Russian dictator is rather complex. Although Dugin is often portrayed as a significant influence on Putin's geopolitical strategy, particularly in Western media, Dugin and Putin are rarely seen publicly interacting. Still, the former’s suspected close ties and influence over Putin have resulted in some comparing him to the 19th-century monk and mystic Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, well-known and despised for his alleged influence over the Romanovs, the Tsarist family which ruled Russia for centuries until their overthrow in 1917.

Outlook

The NBP was a political youth organisation which combined Russian ultranationalism and anti-Western sentiment with left-wing patriotism and elements of punk and other subcultures. It was described by Radio Free Europe as employing a (quote) “bizarre mixture of totalitarian and fascist symbols, geopolitical dogma, and national-patriotic demagoguery”. Dugin and his followers left the organisation in 1997, while Limonov continued to serve as founding leader until the NBP ultimately fell foul of Russian authorities and was outright banned in 2007. Although their alliance was short-lived, the period represented a cornerstone in Dugin’s later ideas, and further sharpened his ideological stance against communism. It was also in the 1990s that Dugin became a prominent advocate of ‘Eurasianism’ - something which would become the core of Dugin's ideological framework. In essence, Eurasianism dictated that Russia could not be understood as either a Western or oriental culture and should instead be understood as a separate civilisation entirely. And it is true that Dugin and Putin share a lot of precise ideological affinities, particularly in their opposition to Western liberalism and their vision of a strong, assertive Russia. In the early days of the Russo-Ukrainian war in 2014, Putin made use of the term ‘Novorossiya’ to describe the easternmost regions of Ukraine, making use of an old historical Russian imperial concept which portrayed the regions as an extension of Russian land. It is thought that this term, which had been largely discarded before the start of the war and later returned largely to disuse as the war progressed, had been brought back into vogue largely by Dugin, who made frequent use of it in his 2009 book and throughout 2014. That said, Dugin's influence can be seen in the broader intellectual and political environment of Russia. His ideas resonate with many in the Russian elite and have found an audience among many nationalists and conservative thinkers. This ideological alignment has helped to create an atmosphere in which Putin's actions, such as the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the support for separatists in Eastern Ukraine, can be justified within the framework of Eurasianism. And a large part of Dugin’s visions in this regard is encapsulated by what he calls the Fourth Political Theory, something he put forward in a book of the same name, which was published in 2009. The Fourth Political Theory In The Fourth Political Theory, Dugin characterised contemporary world history as a struggle between three competing political ideologies: Communism, Liberalism, and Fascism. According to Dugin, the second and third of these - Fascism and Communism - failed and were overcome by Liberalism, which he declared to now be the dominant political order in most of the world. Liberalism, for Dugin, was an extension of the American political, social and economic system, one of decadence and a moral decline, and one which aimed to suck the entire world into its orbit.

The Making of a Mystic: Aleksandr Dugin's Early Life and Influences

He further described the traditional Left-Right paradigm as effectively meaningless and that the liberal order represented a moral degeneracy disguised under the cloak of ‘progress’, which individual civilisations must make great efforts to counter. To do so, Dugin wrote that a fourth political theory was necessary, one which would help countries to avert the pull of Western liberalism and act as a counterbalance to the American-led interference which threatened to subsume them. Despite this, Dugin’s rambling text offers only a very vague vision of what this Fourth Political Theory should actually look like, focusing instead on the degeneracy of the liberal system as he saw it. A central underlying element of Dugin’s positions in The Fourth Political Theory stemmed from two landmark books on political theory from the 1990s, namely Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History and the Last Man, and Samuel Huntington’s The Clash of Civilisations and the Remaking of World Order. Francis Fukuyama had claimed that with the collapse of the communist system in the Eastern Bloc and the earlier demise of Fascism after World War II, Liberal Democracy had triumphed as the dominant political system in the world and that it was the one which best conformed to human instinct. Huntington, for his part, in a highly controversial but also widely-cited work, claimed that history would be better understood as the constant collision between various actors for supremacy. He added that civilisations - separated by a combination of religion, language, history and other elements of culture, would continue to fight one another for supremacy. In his book, Dugin largely rejected Fukuyama’s conclusion, arguing historical trends and evidence from recent political struggles supported Samuel Huntington’s concept of the inevitable conflict between civilisations and that this was something which had actually become sped up by the collapse of the Communist system rather than ending it (NOTE TO SIMON: Page 88). With that said, Dugin’s book offered a very subjective take on contemporary European history, somewhat resembling Vladimir Putin’s meandering account of the course of European history during his infamous interview with Tucker Carlson in 2024. Moreover, Dugin specifically highlighted certain select countries as steadfastly upholding their own individual civilisation and ‘human values’. These included China, Venezuela, and Iran, countries not only accused of gross human rights violations but also - surprise, surprise - allies and strategic partners of Russia. The Fourth Political Theory was published only one year after Russia invaded Georgia in the 2008 Russo-Georgian War, during the course of which Dugin had visited the Russian-backed breakaway states over which the invasion had been carried out. Given its themes, the book became seen by many as an endorsement of Russian influence strategy secured through violent means, and a justification of its military intervention to previously Russian-aligned countries as a means to deter them from ever seriously considering leaving its orbit.

Eurasianism and the Fourth Political Theory: Understanding Dugin's Ideological Framework

Separately, Dugin also received notoriety for his close ties to far-right figures in Europe and elsewhere, links which would have appeared to stand at great odds with the positions outlined in his text, which ostensibly rejected Fascism as a spent and defeated ideology and one judged undesirable for a future society. According to OpenDemocracy, Dugin had celebrated the rebirth of what he called ‘fascist fascism’ in the 1990s and had praised Reynhard Heydrich - a key figure of the Holocaust - for being a ‘convinced Eurasian’. In both ‘The Foundations of Geopolitics’ and ‘The Fourth Political Theory’, Dugin spoke glowingly of figures associated with the European New Right, such as controversial French philosopher Alain de Benoist, and he also wrote in defence of cultural figures such as Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala, a French entertainer who was convicted on several occasions of antisemitism but who Dugin characterised instead as a victim of ‘institutionalised left-liberal anti-racism’. Dugin and the Russo-Ukrainian War Now, one might be tempted to say that Dugin’s ideas - like those of many political theorists, especially those promoting fringe political theories on the Left and Right - would be influential only in relatively niche circles of thought and in academia, but would otherwise have little or no bearing on world events. Unfortunately, however, Dugin’s ideas appear to have a direct and very real influence on world events: most specifically on Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine. A large part of Dugin’s current notoriety stems from his aggressive positions on Ukraine and the Russian invasion, for which he is seen in large part as one of the driving ideological inspirations. Dugin’s stance on the reintegration of post-soviet states under the Russian umbrella - in some ways a continuation of the forced assimilation carried out on minority populations during the Soviet period - has remained relatively consistent throughout his work, pausing only to de-emphasizing Communism as a channel with which to achieve this. In The Foundations of Geopolitics, Dugin made the following statement with regard to Ukraine (quote) (NOTE TO SIMON: page 343) “Ukraine as an independent state with some kind of territorial ambitions poses a huge threat to the whole of Eurasia, and without solving the Ukrainian problem at all it makes no sense to talk about continental geopolitics (...) Strategically, Ukraine should be strictly a projection of Moscow to the south and west.” Dugin’s rejection of Ukraine’s right to sovereignty was one of the relatively few consistent themes in his work, and his positions have included an increasingly virulent line on its independence, on which he stated in 2014 (quote): “Ukraine has to be either vanished from Earth and rebuilt from scratch or people need to get it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the theory of Aleksandr Dugin?

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Why did Rasputin have so much influence over the Czarina?

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What is Dugin's view on liberalism?

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What is the Dugin doctrine?

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Jackson Reed

Jackson Reed creates and presents analysis focused on military doctrine, strategic competition, and conflict dynamics.

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