Foundations of Geopolitics

The Foundations of Geopolitics: The Geopolitical Future of Russia is a geopolitical book by Aleksandr Dugin. It has had a large effect with the Russian military, police and the people decide how the Russia deals with other countries. It has been used as a textbook in the Academy of the General Staff of the Russian military. The book was published in 1997. It was well liked in Russia. Because of the book powerful Russian politicians have taken an interest in Dugin. He was a Russian Eurasianist, fascist,"Classification of Dugin as a fascist is justified, regardless of the fact that today the MGU professor frequently speaks not as a primitive ethnocentrist or biological racist. (...) By «fascist» we understand the «generic» meaning of the concept, used in comparatory research of contemporary right-wing extremism by such well-known historians-comparativists as Alexandr Galkin (Moscow), Walter Laqueur (Washington), Stanley Payne (Madison), Wolfgang Wippermann (Berlin) or Roger Griffin (Oxford)",  and nationalist.  Dugin has formed a close relationship with Russia's Academy of the General Staff.

Dugin has said that General Nikolai Klokotov of the Academy of the General Staff helped him write the book.  Klokotov says this is not true.Colonel General Leonid Ivashov helped write the book.

 Use 
Klokotov said that the book would "serve as a mighty ideological foundation for preparing a new military command". Dugin has said that the book has been used as a textbook in many Russian schools. Former speaker of the Russian State Duma, Gennadiy Seleznyov has "urged that Dugin's geopolitical doctrine be made a compulsory part of the school curriculum".

 Content 
In Foundations of Geopolitics, Dugin says that the United States should not have any effect on Eurasia. He wants Russia to rebuild its power  through annexations and alliances.

The book says that "the battle for the world rule of Russians" has not ended. It also say that Russia is still "the staging area of a new anti-bourgeois, anti-American revolution". The Eurasian Empire will be built "on the fundamental principle of the common enemy: the rejection of Atlanticism, strategic control of the USA, and the refusal to allow liberal values to dominate us."
Military operations are not a large part of his plan. The textbook says subversion, destabilization, and disinformation should be used. They should also use Russia's gas, oil and other natural resources to pressure other countries.

 Reception and impact 
Historian Timothy D. Snyder wrote in The New York Review of Books that Foundations of Geopolitics is influenced by the work of Carl Schmitt. Scmitt was a supporter of a conservative international group whose work influenced the Nazis. He also said that Dugin's was important in getting people to talk about the iideas of Eurasianism and National Bolshevism.

In 2017, news.com.au said that the book "reads like a to-do list for Putin's behaviour on the world stage".

 References 

 Other websites 

 Foundations of Geopolitics  - Russian Edition
 Foundations of Geopolitics - Machine-translated English version
 Review of Foundations of Geopolitics by John B. Dunlop

Category:1997 books
Category:Politics of Russia