Foundations of Geopolitics

A 1997 book by Russian political theorist Alexander Dugin that advocates Eurasianist strategy to expand Russia’s geopolitical influence and challenge U.S.-led order.

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Eurasianism: A family of ideas that treats Eurasia as a distinct civilizational and geopolitical space. The book recasts Eurasianism as a strategic program centered on Russian power.
Alexander Dugin: A Russian political theorist and activist associated with contemporary Eurasianism and nationalist politics. He authored the book and developed its distinctive synthesis of geopolitical ideas.
Russian foreign policy: The strategies and actions through which Russia pursues its interests in international relations. The book presents a sweeping strategic vision for Russia’s external relations.
Vladimir Putin: The president of Russia, whose rule has shaped the country’s domestic and foreign policy since 2000. Claims about the book’s influence on Putin’s policy are widespread but disputed.
Atlanticism: A foreign-policy orientation favoring cooperation among North American and European states, often through NATO. The book casts Atlanticist alignment as the principal strategic alternative to Eurasian integration.
Heartland theory: Halford Mackinder’s theory that control of central Eurasia could confer decisive global power. Dugin adapts its emphasis on Eurasian land power to Russia’s strategic ambitions.
Russian Eurasianism: A Russian intellectual tradition that presents Russia as a Eurasian civilization distinct from Europe and Asia. This tradition supplied the book’s core account of Russia’s identity and continental role.
Eurasian Economic Union: An economic integration organization of several post-Soviet states, established in 2015. Its regional integration project is often compared with the book’s vision of Eurasian consolidation.
Yevgeny Primakov: A Russian diplomat and politician who served as foreign minister and prime minister in the 1990s. His multipolar foreign-policy outlook provides a distinct Russian strategic context for the book’s proposals.
Liberal internationalism: A foreign-policy approach that promotes international institutions, cooperation, and liberal political principles. Dugin rejects the universalist assumptions that underpin this approach to world order.