EP54: Dugin: Russia’s Imperial Philosopher

We look at the mind behind Russia’s imperial vision, Aleksandr Dugin. Political theorist Matt McManus walks us through this far-right thinker’s strange and often contradictory ideas, from: his geopolitical clash-of-civilizations narrative, his flirtation with left-wing postmodernism, his Nietzschean great man-visions, his rejection of all things liberal, and his more ancient and mystical imagination.

——————FURTHER READING & LISTENING————————-

• This episode is inspired by the Pill Pod’s take on Duggin, with Matt McManus and friends. Their episode has a deeper dive into what Duggin means for postmodernism, Bruno Latour, and the left–check it out!
• Duggin is a kind of postmodern conservative, and McManus’ book the Rise of Postmodern Conservatism analyzes this emerging intellectual milieu in detail.
• We used the book Key Thinkers of the Radical Right in preparation, and in particular Marlene Laruelle’s chapter on Duggin. It encapsulates his ideas, and gives a more detailed biography than we had here.

Note: Unfortunately, a lot of academic work is paywalled and not readily accessible to people outside the academy. If you ever see anything in our reading list that you cannot access but would like to access, simply email the show and we will do what we can to get them to you.

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—————————-CREDITS—————————

Darts and Letters is hosted and executive produced by Gordon Katic. Marc Apollonio is managing producer. Our lead producer is Jay Cockburn. Our theme song and music was created by Mike Barber, our graphic design was created by Dakota Koop, and our marketing was done by Ian Sowden.

This is a production of Cited Media. We work primarily in Toronto, Ontario, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples.