Eurasianism and the European Far Right

Reshaping the EuropeRussia Relationship

Contributions by Emel Akçali, Jean-Yves Camus, Vügar İmanbeyli, Umut Korkut, Marlene Laruelle, Vadim Rossman, Giovanni Savino, Anton Shekhovtsov, David C. Speedie, Sofia Tipaldou Edited by Marlene Laruelle

Not available to order

Publication date:

01 July 2015

Length of book:

292 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9781498510691

The 2014 Ukrainian crisis has highlighted the pro-Russia stances of some European countries, such as Hungary and Greece, and of some European parties, mostly on the far-right of the political spectrum. They see themselves as victims of the EU “technocracy” and liberal moral values, and look for new allies to denounce the current “mainstream” and its austerity measures. These groups found new and unexpected allies in Russia. As seen from the Kremlin, those who denounce Brussels and its submission to U.S. interests are potential allies of a newly re-assertive Russia that sees itself as the torchbearer of conservative values. Predating the Kremlin’s networks, the European connections of Alexander Dugin, the fascist geopolitician and proponent of neo-Eurasianism, paved the way for a new pan-European illiberal ideology based on an updated reinterpretation of fascism. Although Dugin and the European far-right belong to the same ideological world and can be seen as two sides of the same coin, the alliance between Putin’s regime and the European far-right is more a marriage of convenience than one of true love. This unique book examines the European far-right’s connections with Russia and untangles this puzzle by tracing the ideological origins and individual paths that have materialized in this permanent dialogue between Russia and Europe.

Introduction: Marlene Laruelle
Chapter 1: Dangerous Liaisons? Eurasianism, European Far Right, and Putin’s Russia, Marlene Laruelle

Part I: Alexander Dugin’s Trajectory: Mediating European Far Right to Russia
Chapter 2: Alexander Dugin and the West European New Right, 1989–1994, Anton Shekhovtsov
Chapter 3: Moscow State University’s Department of Sociology and the Climate of Opinion in Post-Soviet Russia, Vadim Rossman

Part II: France, Italy, and Spain: Dugin’s European Cradles
Chapter 4: A Long-Lasting Friendship. Alexander Dugin and the French Radical Right, Jean-Yves Camus
Chapter 5: From Evola to Dugin: The Neo-Eurasianist Connection in Italy, Giovanni Savino
Chapter 6: Arriba Eurasia? The Difficult Establishment of Neo-Eurasianism in Spain, Nicolas Lebourg

Part III: Turkey, Hungary, and Greece: Dugin’s New Conquests
Chapter 7: “Failed Exodus”: Dugin’s Networks in Turkey, Vügar İmanbeyli
Chapter 8: Deciphering Eurasianism in Hungary: Narratives, Networks, and Lifestyles, Umut Korkut and Emel Akçali
Chapter 9: The Dawning of Europe and Eurasia? The Greek Golden Dawn and its Transnational Links, Sofia Tipaldou

Part IV: Conclusions: The European Far Right at Moscow’s Service?
Chapter 10: Far-Right Election Observation Monitors in the Service of the Kremlin’s Foreign Policy, Anton Shekhovtsov

Against this sad background, the appearance of this volume, edited by Marlene Laruelle, perhaps the world’s foremost researcher of neo- and classical Eurasianism, is highly welcomed. Laruelle’s essay collection is especially valuable as it combines a wide range of specific topics with particularly rich descriptive case analyses. . . .This volume’s collection compiled by Laruelle fills a whole number of gaps in the mosaic of Russia’s increasing integration into transnational extreme-right-wing networks. These well-researched papers provide…sufficient starting points for more directed research into specific episodes in neo-Eurasianism’s relationship to the countries covered here. . . .Laruelle and her authors are to be congratulated for having, with this outstanding volume, given a crucial impulse to the emergence of a new sub-discipline of Russian nationalism studies that could be labelled ‘neo-Eurasianism studies.’