Date of Graduation

2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MA

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

History

Committee Chair

Robert Blobaum

Committee Co-Chair

Joshua Arthurs

Committee Member

Mark Tauger

Abstract

This thesis discusses the ideological makeup of the Russian right wing philosopher Alexander Dugin's and his conceptualization of race and nation in his Neo-Eurasianist imperial project. 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. Ultimately this thesis contests some scholars' interpretations of Dugin's worldview as a fundamentally ethnocentric or even racist Russian nationalism. Rather, by examining Dugin's writings on nation through an ethno-symbolist prism 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. Concomitantly, 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.

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