A Critical Analysis of Aleksandr Dugin’s Traditionalism, Fascism, and Extremist Ideology

Abstract

This study examines the background to the formation of the anti-Westernism and Russian nationalism embedded in the Neo-Eurasianism of Russian political philosopher Alexandr Dugin by tracing his activities in a underground circle during his youth in the 1980s. Furthermore, it aims to shed light on how these tendencies began to manifest during the chaotic transition to the post-Soviet order in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union, through an analysis of the articles he wrote at the time. In the 1980s, during his late teens and early twenties, Dugin became fascinated by the “Traditionalism” of French philosopher René Guénon and the fascist ideas of Italian political theorist Julius Evola after encountering these intellectual currents, which developed in interwar Europe, through his activities in the “Iuzhinsky Circle,” a group that rebelled against the established Soviet order. Influenced by these ideas. During the 1990s Dugin began advocating for the establishment of a future Russian state based on the far-right nationalism, extremism, and totalitarianism. Because such aspirations for Russian hegemony are inherent in Dugin’s Neo-Eurasianism, one needs to make a sober assessment of its potential dangers.