Aleksandr Dugin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Aleksandr Dugin
Александр Дугин |
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Dugin in 2023
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Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin
7 January 1962 Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
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| Education |
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| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Region | Russian philosophy |
| School | Neo-Eurasianism
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Main interests
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Geopolitics, political philosophy, conservative revolution, sociology |
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Notable ideas
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Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin (Russian: Александр Гельевич Дугин; born 7 January 1962) is a Russian political thinker. He is known for his ideas about Russian neo-Eurasianism, which suggests that Russia should lead a large Eurasian empire.
Dugin grew up in a family connected to the military. In the 1980s, he was a critic of the Soviet government. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he helped start the National Bolshevik Party in 1993. In 1997, Dugin wrote his most famous book, Foundations of Geopolitics. In this book, he suggested that Russia should become more powerful by forming alliances and expanding its influence. He believed this would help Russia challenge the influence of countries like the United States.
In 2002, Dugin created the Eurasia Party. He continued to develop his ideas in other books, such as The Fourth Political Theory (2009). Dugin's views have been described by some as similar to fascism. However, he says he is against fascism, as well as against liberal democracy and Marxism. Instead, he supports a "conservative revolution" in Russia.
Dugin worked as an advisor to some Russian politicians. From 2009 to 2014, he was a professor at Moscow State University. He lost this job after making strong comments about events in Ukraine. Since 2023, he has been a director at the Ivan Ilyin Higher School of Politics.
Dugin strongly supports Russian president Vladimir Putin. Even though he doesn't work directly for the government, some foreign media call him "Putin's brain." Others say his influence is not as big as it seems. Dugin supported Russia's actions in Crimea in 2014 and the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. His daughter, Darya, died in a car bombing in 2022.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Dugin was born in Moscow. His father was a high-ranking officer in a Soviet military intelligence agency. His mother was a doctor. His father left the family when Dugin was three, but he made sure they were well-off. He also helped Dugin when he got into trouble with authorities.
In 1979, Aleksandr started studying at the Moscow Aviation Institute. He left without finishing his degree. After that, he worked as a street cleaner. He used a fake library card to study at the Lenin Library. Other reports say he worked in a KGB archive, where he could read books that were usually not allowed.
In 1980, Dugin joined a group called the "Yuzhinsky circle." This group was interested in unusual and hidden knowledge. In this group, Dugin was known for his interest in Nazism. He said this was his way of rebelling against his Soviet upbringing, not because he truly supported Hitler. He even used a different name, "Hans Sievers," which was a reference to a Nazi researcher.
Dugin taught himself several languages, including Italian, German, French, English, and Spanish. He was influenced by thinkers like René Guénon and Julius Evola. He even translated Evola's book Pagan Imperialism into Russian.
Career and Political Ideas
Early Political Activities
In the 1980s, Dugin was a political activist who disagreed with the communist government. He worked as a journalist before getting involved in politics around the time the Soviet Union ended. In 1988, he joined an ultranationalist group called Pamyat ("Memory").
In 1993, Dugin helped start the National Bolshevik Party with Eduard Limonov. This party combined ideas of nationalism and Bolshevism. Dugin left the party in 1998 after disagreements with Limonov.
Writing and Publishing
Dugin published his book Foundations of Geopolitics in 1997. This book has been used in university courses on geopolitics, even in the Russian military's General Staff Academy. Some political scientists in the US have called it "Russia's Manifest Destiny," meaning it outlines Russia's supposed future.
In 1997, Dugin wrote an article called "Fascism – Borderless and Red." In it, he talked about a "genuine, true, radically revolutionary and consistent, fascist fascism" for Russia. He believed that the racist parts of National Socialism were specific to Germany. He saw Russian fascism as a mix of national conservatism and a desire for big changes. He even praised a scientific part of the Nazi SS organization, calling it an "intellectual oasis."
Dugin also started his own journal called Elementy. This journal praised thinkers who supported a large "Euro-Soviet empire" stretching from Dublin to Vladivostok. Elementy also showed his admiration for Julius Evola. Dugin also worked with the journal Den (The Day).
Dugin's Main Ideas
Dugin does not like liberalism or the Western world, especially the strong influence of the United States. He has said, "We are on the side of Stalin and the Soviet Union." He describes himself as a conservative. He believes conservatives want a strong country, order, healthy families, and positive values. He also wants religion and the Church to be important in society. He wants media that supports national interests.
According to some experts, Dugin's ideas are like a set of circles. At the center are far-right ideas, supported by different ways of thinking, including older traditions and new European ideas.
Dugin uses the idea of Dasein (Existence) from the philosopher Martin Heidegger. He turns it into a geographical and philosophical idea. Dugin believes that the liberal and capitalist Western world represents a kind of pride or arrogance. He thinks this "titanism" goes against what is ideal. He sees the West as a "revolt of the Earth against Heaven." Dugin believes that ideas like democracy, human rights, and individualism are not for everyone, but are only Western ideas.
In 2019, Dugin had a discussion with French thinker Bernard-Henri Lévy. They talked about problems with capitalism and the rise of nationalist movements.
Eurasianism and Geopolitics
Dugin has proposed creating a "Euro-Asian empire" to challenge the Western world led by the US. He was a leader of the National Bolshevik Party from 1993 to 1998. Later, he led the National Bolshevik Front and the Eurasia Party. Dugin's Eurasian ideas aim to unite all Russian-speaking peoples into one country. Some critics have called his views fascist.
In the early 1990s, Dugin studied the history of national movements. He also looked into groups that supported hidden knowledge in the early 20th century. He worked with others to connect international politics with Russia's Eurasian ideas.
Dugin spent two years studying the ideas of Dutch thinker Herman Wirth. Wirth was one of the founders of the German Ahnenerbe, a Nazi research group. Dugin's book Hyperborean Theory (1993) supported Wirth's ideas as a possible basis for his Eurasianism.
Dugin's ideas, especially about a partnership between Turkic and Slavic groups in Eurasia, have gained attention in Turkey. Dugin also supports an alliance between Russia and Arab countries.
In principle, Eurasia and our space, the heartland Russia, remain the staging area of a new anti-bourgeois, anti-American revolution... The new Eurasian empire will be constructed on the fundamental principle of the common enemy: the rejection of Atlanticism, strategic control of the USA, and the refusal to allow liberal values to dominate us. This common civilizational impulse will be the basis of a political and strategic union.
According to Dugin's ideas, a reborn Russia would be similar to the Soviet Union. In 2012, Dugin spoke at a large rally in Moscow. He told the crowd that the "global American empire" wants to control all countries. He said Russia is the last obstacle to this "global evil empire." He urged Russians to be united and strong to protect their freedom.
Russian Orthodoxy and Other Beliefs
Dugin was baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church when he was six. Since 1999, he has followed a branch of the Old Believers, a Russian religious movement. Dugin's Eurasian ideas are influenced by traditional and spiritual movements. He believes that Russian Orthodoxy, especially the Old Believers, has kept a special, hidden knowledge that was lost in Western Christianity. He thinks this Russian tradition can be combined with modern paganism.
Other Views
In Foundations of Geopolitics, Dugin suggested that China should be broken up into smaller states. However, after being invited to lecture at Fudan University in China, Dugin's views changed. He now supports China's "Tianxia" concept and believes a Russian-Chinese alliance would help against Western influence. Dugin is now a senior fellow at Fudan University.
Political Parties
National Bolshevik Party
In 1992, Eduard Limonov started the National Bolshevik Party. Aleksandr Dugin was one of its first members and helped Limonov get into politics. The party gained attention in 1992 when two members were arrested for having grenades. This incident helped the party get publicity for its campaign against Western goods.
The National Bolshevik Party joined forces with the National Salvation Front, a group of Russian communists and nationalists. In 1998, Dugin left the party because of disagreements with other members. After he left, the party moved further left in Russian politics.
Eurasia Party
The Eurasia Party, which promotes Dugin's neo-Eurasianist ideas, was started in April 2001. Dugin was named its founder. He said the movement would focus on cultural diversity in Russian politics. It would also oppose "American style globalization" and a return to communism or nationalism. The Russian government officially recognized it in May 2001. The Eurasia Party claims support from some military groups and leaders of the Orthodox Christian faith in Russia. The party hopes to help solve the problems in Chechnya. Dugin's goal is a strong alliance between Russia and countries in Europe and the Middle East, especially Iran.
In 2005, Dugin founded the Eurasian Youth Union of Russia. This was the youth branch of the International Eurasia Movement.
Views on Ukraine and Role in Russian Politics
Dugin supports Russian President Vladimir Putin and his foreign policies. However, he has disagreed with the Russian government's economic policies. In 2007, he said that there were no longer any opponents of Putin's policies.
In the Russian government, Dugin is seen as part of the "war party" regarding Ukraine. Dugin supported Putin's plan for the annexation of Crimea by Russia. He believed a war between Russia and Ukraine was unavoidable. He called for Putin to get involved in the war in Donbas. Dugin said, "The Russian Renaissance can only stop at Kyiv."
During the war in Donbas, Dugin was in touch with pro-Russian separatists. He said he was "unconditionally pro-DPR and pro-LPR." A video showed Dugin giving advice to separatists in southern and eastern Ukraine.
In March 2014, Oleg Bahtiyarov, a member of Dugin's Eurasia Youth Union, was arrested. He had trained a group to take over government buildings.
Dugin said he was disappointed in President Putin for not helping the pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine in July 2014. In August 2014, Dugin called for the end of Ukrainian identity.
Some experts believe Dugin's "Eurasian ideology" strongly influenced events in eastern Ukraine and Russia's actions in Crimea. According to Vincent Jauvert, Dugin's ideas became important for Russia's policies.
Ukraine banned Dugin from entering the country for five years, starting in June 2006. In 2007, Kyiv declared him an unwanted person. His Eurasian Youth Union was also banned in Ukraine. In 2007, members of the Eurasian Youth Union damaged a memorial on the mountain of Hoverla in Ukraine. Dugin was sent back to Russia when he arrived at Simferopol International Airport in June 2007.
Before the war between Russia and Georgia in 2008, Dugin visited South Ossetia. He predicted that Russian troops would take over the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, and possibly Ukraine and Crimea. After the war, he said Russia should "not stop at liberating South Ossetia but should move further," and "we have to do something similar in Ukraine." In September 2008, he was upset that Putin did not "restore the Empire."
On 10 October 2014, Dugin said that only by bringing back a "Greater Russia" (the Eurasian Union) could Russia become a strong global player. He described the Euromaidan in Ukraine as a coup led by the United States. He claimed the US wanted to fight Russia using Ukrainians.
Dugin said Russia is the main force behind events in Ukraine. He stated that Russia is defending its independence and trying to unite the former Soviet countries.
On 2 October 2014, Dugin described the situation in Donbas. He said that a "humanitarian crisis" was happening in the region. He also stated that up to a million refugees had gone to Russia. In late October 2014, Dugin advised the separatists to create a strong government in Novorossiya until they won the conflict.
Influence on Putin
Dugin's influence on the Russian government and President Vladimir Putin is a topic of discussion. He does not have official ties to the Kremlin. However, media often call him "Putin's brain" and say he helps shape Russia's foreign policy. Others argue that Dugin's influence is small and has been exaggerated. They say that similarities between his ideas and Russian policy don't mean he caused those policies.
In 2016, professor Peter Rutland wrote that Dugin does not directly influence Putin. Instead, Dugin expressed the general mood of Russia after the Soviet Union fell. He identified feelings that later led to Putin's actions. Mark Galeotti wrote in 2022 that Western commentators often overstate Dugin's importance. He argued that Dugin's influence on politics since 2016 was very small.
In November 2022, the newspaper Meduza reported that Dugin's influence on Putin had grown after his daughter Daria Dugina was killed. According to sources, Putin became more interested in Dugin's ideas after the murder.
Dugin openly criticized Putin for not defending "Russian cities" like Kherson, which was taken back from Russian control in November 2022.
Connections with Groups in Other Countries
Dugin met French thinker Alain de Benoist in 1990. He also met Belgian thinkers Jean-François Thiriart and Yves Lacoste. In 1992, he invited some European far-right figures to Russia. He also brought members of groups like Jobbik from Hungary and Golden Dawn from Greece to Russia to strengthen ties.
According to the book War for Eternity, Dugin met Steve Bannon in Rome in 2018. They discussed philosophy and geopolitics. Dugin also formed connections with political parties in the European Union, including Syriza in Greece, Ataka in Bulgaria, the Freedom Party of Austria, and Front National in France. He aimed to influence EU policy on Ukraine and Russia. Dugin is also close to Israeli journalist Avigdor Eskin.
The "Fifth Column"
Dugin often uses the idea of a "fifth column" to accuse people of being foreign agents. In a 2014 interview, he said that Europe is controlled by its own "fifth column," which he called "American riffraff."
He believes the United States is behind all these groups, including the Russian "fifth column." He says the US embassy funds and guides the "fifth column." According to Dugin, the "fifth column" helped break up the Soviet Union. He believes they took power under Boris Yeltsin and led Russia until the 2000s. He says this group includes liberal reformers, former wealthy businessmen, former government officials, and some people in arts, culture, and media.
Dugin has suggested taking away Russian citizenship from the "fifth column" and sending them out of Russia. However, in 2007, Dugin said that anyone who opposes Putin is "mentally ill." In 2014, he confirmed this view in an interview.
Dugin also created the term the sixth column. He defined it as the "fifth column" that pretends to be different. These are people who support Putin but want him to follow liberal values. During the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine, Dugin said that the Russian "sixth column" supported a Ukrainian businessman. He believes Russia needs to fight against both the "fifth and sixth columns."
Russian-American artist Mihail Chemiakin said Dugin is inventing new "columns." He joked that soon there would be a "seventh column."
Dugin has also said that the entire Internet should be banned because it "gives nobody anything good." In June 2012, Dugin gave a lecture where he said that chemistry and physics are "demonic sciences." He said that all Orthodox Russians should unite around the Russian president to fight between good and evil, like Iran and North Korea. He added that to be free from the West, Russia needs to be free from physics and chemistry textbooks.
In June 2014, Dugin said his position on the Russo-Ukrainian war was to strongly oppose the Ukrainian government and "Ukrainian Nazism" that he claimed was harming civilians. He also rejected liberalism and US influence.
Loss of University Position
In 2008, Dugin started a Center for Conservative Studies at Moscow State University. This center focused on ideas from thinkers like Guénon, Evola, Schmitt, and Heidegger, and how they could be used in Russian politics. In 2014, Dugin lost his academic job. This happened after an interview where he commented on the deaths of 42 anti-Maidan activists in Odesa. He said, "Kill them, kill them, kill them. There should not be any more conversations. As a professor, I consider it so." Many media outlets understood this as a call to kill Ukrainians. A petition asking for his dismissal was signed by over 10,000 people.
Dugin said he was fired from his post. The university said that the offer for him to be a department head was a mistake and was canceled. They said he would remain a professor until September 2014. Dugin resigned from the faculty staff.
Chief Editor of Tsargrad TV
Dugin was named chief editor of Tsargrad TV by businessman Konstantin Malofeev shortly after the TV station began in 2015.
Personal Life
Dugin's first wife was Evgenia Debryanskaya, a Russian activist. They have a son named Artur. Dugin had a daughter, Darya Dugina, with his second wife, Natalya Melentyeva. On 20 August 2022, Darya Dugina died in a car bombing near Moscow. It is not clear if she was the target, or if her father, who was supposed to be with her but switched cars at the last minute, was the intended target.
Sanctions
On 11 March 2015, the United States Department of the Treasury added Dugin to its list of Russian citizens who are sanctioned. This was because of their involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian war. His Eurasian Youth Union was also targeted. In June 2015, Canada also added Dugin to its list of sanctioned individuals.
On 3 March 2022, the United States Department of the Treasury sanctioned the publication Geopolitika because it was believed to be controlled by Dugin. Also, Dugin's daughter Darya was sanctioned for her work as chief editor of the website United World International (UWI). The US Treasury said UWI was part of a project owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is linked to Russian interference in the 2016 US elections.
In January 2023, both Japan and Ukraine placed sanctions on Dugin for supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
See also
In Spanish: Aleksandr Duguin para niños
- All-Russian nation
- Anti-globalization movement
- Eurasianism
- Igor Panarin
- Intermediate Region
- Pan-Slavism
- Rashism
- Russian irredentism
- Russian world
- Russophilia
- Slavophilia
- Statism
- List of Russian philosophers
