A mural shows a portrait of a Russian soldier killed in action in Ukraine near a church in Balashikha, a city near Moscow. Photo: EPA-EFE/MAXIM SHIPENKOV
The Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow has introduced a new academic course titled “Westernology” which will cover “satanic Western civilisation”, Alexander Dugin, the ultra-conservative philosopher and ideologist behind the “Russian world” concept, said in a Telegram post on Tuesday.
Dugin said that the course, which will be taught at the university’s lvan Ilyin Higher Political School that he heads, was necessary for Russia to “end the epistemological hegemony of the West” which has traditionally “penetrated” Russian consciousness. This could be done, he said, by turning the West itself into an object of study, adding that in its current state, Western civilisation was “destructive and toxic”.
Dugin, who has been labelled “Putin’s brain” due to the supposed influence of his ideology on the Kremlin, is known for promoting an ideology focusing on the idea of a “Eurasian Union”, which would reunite all the states of the former USSR into a single body led by Russia.
An openly imperialist ideologue, Dugin outlined his critique of “Western modernism” in his 2009 book, The Fourth Political Theory, further developing his Russia-centric doctrine that sees the country as the rival empire to the West that would “dominate” 21st-century politics.
In August 2022, Dugin survived an assassination attempt when a car he was due to travel in exploded in the Moscow region, killing his daughter, journalist Darya Dugina.
The lvan Ilyin Higher Political School, which opened in 2023, is no stranger to scandal. Students launched a petition in April calling on the university to be renamed as its current namesake, 20th-century philosopher Ivan Ilyin, was a known Nazi sympathiser who advocated the return of tsarist autocracy in Russia.
