Russian geo-political theorist, activist, media personality and professor Alexander Dugin recently spoke at an Arktos-sponsored event to discuss the ideas behind his first English-language book The Fourth Political Theory. The thesis of the book and the talk is that (the first political theory of) liberalism has completely prevailed in the ideological struggle of the Modern age against both (the second political theory of) communism (and socialism) and (the third political theory of) fascism (and national socialism). It was Liberalism that proved to be the most Modern ideology. Dugin agrees with German political philosopher Carl Schmitt that politics requires an ‘other’ or enemy. He sees liberalism as having faded away as an ideology once the two other major opposing ideologies were defeated (fascism in 1945 and communism in 1991). Liberalism has since become a life style that most people in our age take for granted because of the fact that we live in a liberal world. This is the era of Post-modernity, Dugin says, where liberalism’s focus on the individual has been taken to its logical extremes and where any form of collective identity or membership is anathema to the global order. It has run its destructive course and has nothing else to offer us.
In the short clip below, taken from Dugin’s talk, the professor makes several important points that are relevant to those (such as Southern nationalists) who seek to eliminate the current order and replace it with something better and healthier. Dugin says that we are in a struggle against Modernity and liberalism. We are against both the results and principles of Modernity. We should look to restore the values of Pre-modernity which have been forgotten today. Those Pre-Modern values could become Future values, replacing the values which arose in Modernity and now dominate our Post-modern lives. Importantly, we should not fight for the values of the Modern past but should instead fight for the values of the Pre-modern past. As Professor Dugin poetically states it, ‘We don’t struggle for the past that has passed, but for the eternity that was reflected in the traditional society.’ We should think of this not as extreme conservatism, but rather as a form of futurism.
Note: Professor Dugin speaks nine languages but his English is still a work in progress. Please be patient and listen for the ideas and passion.
Click here for the audio (duration: 5:05)
Click here to watch the full video of Professor Dugin’s speech
Also see: Against ‘global liberal hegemony’; An organic alternative to the Atlanticist order; Post-modernity, liberalism & the collapse of politics; Individualism, globalism & resistance
A technological society can’t obtain the transcendent through traditional economies found in back to the earth movements or agrarianism no matter how worthy they are in and of themselves; but it can reach the Transcendent through religion. Further the religion can not be subjective but primarily objective.
Harold, Professor Dugin is Eastern Orthodox, of the Old Believers. He speaks and writes about the importance of religion.
There is much I admire in Orthodoxy. They have apostolic succession and the Sacraments. I watched the video a few days ago.
The only thing that I disagree with Dugin about is somewhere around the 1:04:00 mark, he stated “that race is something not proved theoretically”, but at the same time, he stated that ethnic groups did exist. I’ve heard that same rhetoric coming from liberals also, yet it always puzzled me as to how one can accept one, but deny the other. As we all know, ethnic groups are most of the times sub-groups within races. To me, it seems very contradictory.
Other than that, it was pretty good.
Joe Reb, I’m not sure why he said that. It would seem with race-specific diseases and drugs that the existence of race has been well-established. I wondered about that statement of his as well. But apart from that, yes, I think it’s good.