I recently read a book titled "The Fourth Political Theory" concerning the 3 main political theories of the past century - communism, liberalism, and fascism - and the need to create a new theory that can encompass stand against the "Evil Empire". In this attempt the author pulls many threads together, from religion to anthropology to philosophy, examining what was wrong and what was right about many different ideologies and practices.
The book was written by Alexander Dugin, an adviser to Vladimir Putin, and so it both A) provides some depth to the ideas potentially sustaining Putin and the strategies he represents on the world stage and B) is written by someone with tremendous influence in the world, and whose ideas we can see sprouting up in the BRICS nations and perhaps even the rise in Russian patriotism following NATO-EU aggression. As I read through it I kept having the impression I was really seeing a big piece of history in action.
As a way to gain some psychological distance and see American values from Russian eyes, the book is fantastic. There are many "ahah!" moments as the reader sees the water s/he's been swimming in. But, though it was an extremely interesting read, I believe it was missing a few crucial ingredients.
From the blurb:
Dugin makes no bones about the fact that he completely hates liberalism - "liberalism" as defined here is the ideology/mask of sanity that places the individual and selfishness above everything (ponerization). "Globalization" and "modernization" are terms used to hide the spread of this pathological material.
A multi-polar world is one in which the "individual" is not so much the focus, but instead diversity in the forms of civilizations, cultures, and peoples is given respect. The level of focus for a new ideology needs to be higher and more comprehensive than class, race, state, and certainly higher than the individual. In fact, Dugin goes so far as to say that the individual should not even be considered. The good of the group is what matters. And here we see a huge difference between Russian and American values.
Though Dugin dissects the various ideologies he does a disservice, though, due to a lack of knowledge of psychopathy. I would consider a contribution to the Fourth Political Theory, in the way of Ponerology, to be valuable. Due to this lacking he remains at the level of ideology throughout the work, making frequent forays into phenomenology, which is useful and enlightening in and of itself, but it leads him to miss the crux of the matter. Therefore, though his appeal to conservatism in order to oppose liberal values is very rich, being essentially a repudiation of the ponerization process and a return to normal, human society, it falls a little flat.
That said, his dissection of the ideologies throughout the 20th century is very enlightening, and the book is extensively footnoted for follow-up research into many of the areas he touches upon.
As Dugin points out, the Fourth Political Theory is not the work of a group of intellectuals, but is a series of projects being carried out by people trying to understand the declining American empire and to prepare a new world. And for that it was a pretty amazing look at history in action.
And what does Western media think of him? Well let's ask Wikipedia:
_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Dugin
And the National Review:
_ http://www.nationalreview.com/article/380614/dugins-evil-theology-robert-zubrin
And these are the words from Dugin himself, taken from an interview:
_http://4pt.su/en/content/maoism-too-modern-me
The book was written by Alexander Dugin, an adviser to Vladimir Putin, and so it both A) provides some depth to the ideas potentially sustaining Putin and the strategies he represents on the world stage and B) is written by someone with tremendous influence in the world, and whose ideas we can see sprouting up in the BRICS nations and perhaps even the rise in Russian patriotism following NATO-EU aggression. As I read through it I kept having the impression I was really seeing a big piece of history in action.
As a way to gain some psychological distance and see American values from Russian eyes, the book is fantastic. There are many "ahah!" moments as the reader sees the water s/he's been swimming in. But, though it was an extremely interesting read, I believe it was missing a few crucial ingredients.
From the blurb:
All the political systems of the modern age have been the products of three distinct ideologies: the first, and oldest, is liberal democracy; the second is Marxism; and the third is fascism. The latter two have long since failed and passed out of the pages of history, and the first no longer operates as an ideology, but rather as something taken for granted.
The world today finds itself on the brink of a post-political reality - one in which the values of liberalism are so deeply embedded that the average person is not aware that there is an ideology at work around him. As a result, liberalism is threatening to monopolise political discourse and drown the world in a universal sameness, destroying everything that makes the various cultures and peoples unique. According to Alexander Dugin, what is needed to break through this morass is a fourth ideology - one that will sift through the debris of the first three to look for elements that might be useful, but that remains innovative and unique in itself.
Dugin does not offer a point-by-point program for this new theory, but rather outlines the parameters within which it might develop and the issues which it must address. Dugin foresees that the Fourth Political Theory will use the tools and concepts of modernity against itself, to bring about a return of cultural diversity against commercialisation, as well as the traditional worldview of all the peoples of the world - albeit within an entirely new context. Written by a scholar who is actively influencing the direction of Russian geopolitical strategy today, The Fourth Political Theory is an introduction to an idea that may well shape the course of the world's political future.
Alexander Dugin (b. 1962) is one of the best-known writers and political commentators in post-Soviet Russia. In addition to the many books he has authored on political, philosophical and spiritual topics, he currently serves on the staff of Moscow State University, and is the intellectual leader of the Eurasia Movement. For more than a decade, he has also been an advisor to Vladimir Putin and others in the Kremlin on geopolitical matters, being a vocal advocate of a return of Russian power to the global stage, to act as a counterweight to American domination.
Dugin makes no bones about the fact that he completely hates liberalism - "liberalism" as defined here is the ideology/mask of sanity that places the individual and selfishness above everything (ponerization). "Globalization" and "modernization" are terms used to hide the spread of this pathological material.
A multi-polar world is one in which the "individual" is not so much the focus, but instead diversity in the forms of civilizations, cultures, and peoples is given respect. The level of focus for a new ideology needs to be higher and more comprehensive than class, race, state, and certainly higher than the individual. In fact, Dugin goes so far as to say that the individual should not even be considered. The good of the group is what matters. And here we see a huge difference between Russian and American values.
Though Dugin dissects the various ideologies he does a disservice, though, due to a lack of knowledge of psychopathy. I would consider a contribution to the Fourth Political Theory, in the way of Ponerology, to be valuable. Due to this lacking he remains at the level of ideology throughout the work, making frequent forays into phenomenology, which is useful and enlightening in and of itself, but it leads him to miss the crux of the matter. Therefore, though his appeal to conservatism in order to oppose liberal values is very rich, being essentially a repudiation of the ponerization process and a return to normal, human society, it falls a little flat.
There is, nevertheless, the ontological possibility of saying "no". And from this begins conservatism.
That said, his dissection of the ideologies throughout the 20th century is very enlightening, and the book is extensively footnoted for follow-up research into many of the areas he touches upon.
As Dugin points out, the Fourth Political Theory is not the work of a group of intellectuals, but is a series of projects being carried out by people trying to understand the declining American empire and to prepare a new world. And for that it was a pretty amazing look at history in action.
And what does Western media think of him? Well let's ask Wikipedia:
He focuses on the restoration of the Russian Empire through the unification of Russian-speaking territories, which roughly corresponds to the former Soviet republics, such as Georgia and Ukraine, and unification with Russian-speaking territories, especially eastern Ukraine and Crimea.[12][13] In the Kremlin, Dugin represents the "war party", a division in the heart of the leadership concerning Ukraine,[14] and is seen as the driving conceptual force behind Vladimir Putin’s initiative for the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.[15] According to his geopolitical views, he considers the war between Russia and Ukraine to be inevitable and appeals for Putin to start military intervention in eastern Ukraine.[15]
_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Dugin
And the National Review:
Most Americans don’t know anything about Alexander Dugin. They need to, because Dugin is the mad philosopher who is redesigning the brains of much of the Russian government and public, filling their minds with a new hate-ridden totalitarian ideology whose consequences can only be catastrophic in the extreme, not only for Russia, but for the entire human race.
_ http://www.nationalreview.com/article/380614/dugins-evil-theology-robert-zubrin
And these are the words from Dugin himself, taken from an interview:
Recent attacks on you especially from Glenn Beck in the United States label you a Fascist Racist I understand you to be a conservative communist (nationalist communist) and anti racist - is my understanding correct ?
I am certainly not "Fascist Racist". I am not Fascist (not Third Position). I am convinced anti-Racist. I hate racism as part of liberal Eurocentric and imperialist ideology. Most Westerners including human rights partisans – are definitively racists being universalists and sharing the vision of Modern Western civilization as normative one.
I defend the plurality of civilizations, the absence of the universal (Western) pattern of social development. I strongly oppose any kind of xenophobia and nationalism as the bourgeois artificial and essentially Modern construction.
I am not communist nor Marxist because I refuse the materialism of any kind and deny the progress. So much more correct to describe my views as Fourth Political Theory and traditionalism.
On the level of International Relations it is translated as the Theory of Multipolar World based on the vision of the pluralist architecture of the World based on the great spaces principle (Grossraum). I am against capitalism as a essential phenomenon of Modernity.
I strongly believe that Modernity is absolutely wrong and the Sacred Tradition is absolutely right. USA is the manifestation of all I hate – Modernity, westernization, unipolarity, racism, imperialism, technocracy, individualism, capitalism.
It is in my eyes the society of Antichrist. USA hates me – repressing, putting under sanctions (only for my ideas!), blaming, lying, organizing the deformation on the world scale (Glenn Beck is only small part of it).
But I accept all this patiently. If you are against the Modernity it is but logical the Modernity were against you.
_http://4pt.su/en/content/maoism-too-modern-me