Russian Eurasianism: An Ideology of Empire

Description

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia has been marginalized at the edge of a Western-dominated political and economic system. In recent years, however, leading Russian figures, including former president Vladimir Putin, have begun to stress a geopolitics that puts Russia at the center of a number of axes: European-Asian, Christian-Muslim-Buddhist, Mediterranean-Indian, Slavic-Turkic, and so on. This volume examines the political presuppositions and expanding intellectual impact of Eurasianism, a movement promoting an ideology of Russian-Asian greatness, which has begun to take hold throughout Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkey. Eurasianism purports to tell Russians what is unalterably important about them and why it can only be expressed in an empire. Using a wide range of sources, Marlène Laruelle discusses the impact of the ideology of Eurasianism on geopolitics, interior policy, foreign policy, and culturalist philosophy. Introduction: Eurasianism—Marginal or Mainstream in Contemporary Russia? The Historical Roots of the Eurasianist Idea Neo-Eurasianism and Its Place in Post-Soviet Russia Neo-Eurasianist Doctrine and Russian Foreign Policy Marginal or Mainstream? Premises of This Study Plan of the Book Early Eurasianism, 1920-1930 The Life and Death of a Current of Thought A Philosophy of Politics A Geographic Ideology An Ambiguous Orientalism Conclusions Lev Gumilyov: A Theory of Ethnicity? From Dissidence to Public Endorsement: An Atypical Biography “The Last Eurasianist”? Gumilev’s Episteme: Subjecting the Humanities to the Natural Sciences Theories of the Ethnos or Naturalistic Determinism The Complex History of the Eurasian Totality Xenophobia, Mixophobia, and Anti-Semitism Gumilev, Russian Nationalism, and Soviet Ethnology Conclusions Aleksandr Panarin: Philosophy of History and the Revival of Culturalism Is There a Unified Neo-Eurasianist Theory? From Liberalism to Conservatism: Panarin’s Intellectual Biography “Civilizationism” and “Postmodernism” Rehabilitating Empire: “Civilizational” Pluralism and Ecumenical Theocracy Highlighting Russia’s “Internal East” Conclusions Aleksandr Dugin: A Russian Version of the European Radical Right? Dugin’s Social Trajectory and Its Significance A Russian Version of Antiglobalism: Dugin’s Geopolitical Theories Traditionalism as the Foundation of Dugin’s Thought The Russian Proponent of the New Right? Fascism, Conservative Revolution, and National Bolshevism A Veiled Anti-Semitism Ethno-Differentialism and the Idea of Russian Distinctiveness Conclusions The View from “Within”: Non-Russian Neo-Eurasianism and Islam The Emergence of Muslim Eurasianist Political Parties The Eurasianist Games of the Russian Muftiates Tatarstan: The Pragmatic Eurasianism of Russia’s “Ethnic” Regions Conclusions Neo-Eurasianism in Kazakhstan and Turkey Kazakhstan: Eurasianism in Power The Turkish Case: On the Confusion between Turkism, Pan-Turkism, and Eurasianism Conclusion: The Evolution of the Eurasian(ist) Idea The Unity of Eurasianism Organicism at the Service of Authoritarianism: “Revolution” or “Conservatism”? Nationalism: Veiled or Openly Espoused: The Cultural Racism of Eurasianism Science, Political Movement, or Think Tank? Is Eurasianism Relevant to Explanations of Contemporary Geopolitical Change? Psychological Compensation or Part of a Global Phenomenon?