Russian Eurasianism

Marlene Laruelle is currently a research fellow at the Central Asia and Caucasus Institute of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University. She has been a postdoctoral fellow at the French Institute for Central Asia Studies in Tashkent and a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. In Paris, she is an associate scholar at the French Center for Russian, Caucasian, and East-European Studies at the School of Advanced Social Sciences Studies.

A tour de force not merely because of the depth of the scholarship and the skill of the argument but also because Laruelle unveils a subject crucial to understanding today's Russia but never given proper due... Even the most serious student of contemporary Russia will get from this book a vastly deeper sense of what makes Russian intellectual life, for all of its vexed affinity with the West, fundamentally different. -- Robert Legvold Foreign Affairs 2009 A masterful job of describing the various philosophical threads of Eurasianism... The author's lucid style makes the book accessible to the educated general public. Choice 2009 This volume certainly engages the reader to explore... Laruell's deft treatment of Eurasianism's shifting position in contemporary discourse makes this a fascinating volume that extends beyond the boundaries of any single academic discipline. -- Kathleen Macfie Eurasian Geography and Economics 2009 Laruelle is to be congratulated on her lucid and intellectually disciplined discussion of the ambiguous, intricate, and often contradictory ideas that shape Russian Neo-Eurasiansim... a must-read for intellectual historians, policymakers, cultural scholars, Russia Watchers, or for that matter, anyone who uneasily senses that something is moving in the deep currents beneath the surface of contemporary Russia, but is not sure of what it is. -- Maria Carlson Russian Review 2009 Russian Eurasianism is a lucid and rational guide, based on thorough scholarship and an admirable reluctance to sensationalize or to claim too much. -- Edmund Griffiths Times Literary Supplement 2009 A richly interdisciplinary and meticulously researched analysis of both the historical and contemporary sources of Eurasianist cultural and philosophical/ideological traditions and discourse... this book will be an invaluable resource for policymakers and academics providing a deeper understanding of the forces shaping Russia's identity and the unfolding of circumstances for the entire Eurasian region. -- Sharyl N. Cross Journal of Slavic Military Studies Laruelle, an established authority in the field. International Affairs 2010 Russian Eurasianism is an impressive achievement. The author writes with an erudition and breadth of insight that is unique in the burgeoning field of what we might call 'Eurasianism studies.' -- Mark Bassin Slavic Review 2009

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Eurasianism—Marginal or Mainstream in Contemporary Russia?The Historical Roots of the Eurasianist IdeaNeo-Eurasianism and Its Place in Post-Soviet RussiaNeo-Eurasianist Doctrine and Russian Foreign PolicyMarginal or Mainstream?Premises of This StudyPlan of the Book1. Early Eurasianism, 1920–1930The Life and Death of a Current of ThoughtA Philosophy of PoliticsA Geographic IdeologyAn Ambiguous OrientalismConclusions2. Lev Gumilëv: A Theory of Ethnicity?From Dissidence to Public Endorsement: An Atypical Biography"The Last Eurasianist"?Gumilëv's Episteme: Subjecting the Humanities to the Natural SciencesTheories of the Ethnos or Naturalistic DeterminismThe Complex History of the Eurasian TotalityXenophobia, Mixophobia, and Anti-SemitismGumilëv, Russian Nationalism, and Soviet EthnologyConclusions3. Aleksandr Panarin: Philosophy of History and the Revival of CulturalismIs There a Unified Neo-Eurasianist Theory?From Liberalism to Conservatism: Panarin's Intellectual Biography"Civilizationism" and "Postmodernism"Rehabilitating Empire: "Civilizational" Pluralism and Ecumenical TheocracyHighlighting Russia's "Internal East"Conclusions4. Aleksandr Dugin: A Russian Version of the European Radical Right?Dugin's Social Trajectory and Its SignificanceA Russian Version of Antiglobalism: Dugin's Geopolitical TheoriesTraditionalism as the Foundation of Dugin's ThoughtThe Russian Proponent of the New Right?Fascism, Conservative Revolution, and National BolshevismA Veiled Anti-SemitismEthno-Differentialism and the Idea of Russian DistinctivenessConclusions5. The View from "Within": Non-Russian Neo-Eurasianism and IslamThe Emergence of Muslim Eurasianist Political PartiesThe Eurasianist Games of the Russian MuftiatesTatarstan: The Pragmatic Eurasianism of Russia's "Ethnic" RegionsConclusions6. Neo-Eurasianism in Kazakhstan and TurkeyKazakhstan: Eurasianism in PowerThe Turkish Case: On the Confusion between Turkism, Pan-Turkism, and EurasianismConclusion: The Evolution of the Eurasian(ist) IdeaThe Unity of EurasianismOrganicism at the Service of Authoritarianism: "Revolution" or "Conservatism"?Nationalism: Veiled or Openly Espoused: The Cultural Racism of EurasianismScience, Political Movement, or Think Tank?Is Eurasianism Relevant to Explanations of Contemporary Geopolitical Change?Psychological Compensation or Part of a Global Phenomenon?NotesBibliographyIndex