Dugin’s Fourth Political Theory is based on the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, who argued that modernity is a kind of scientific objectification of the world, which only accepts cultural or traditional knowledge as long as it remains secondary to any objective inquiry. According to Dugin, this paradigm is fundamental to three of the most powerful political philosophies of modernity: Marxism, fascism, and liberalism. As a self-professed Eurasianist, he rejects all three, but believes that these ideologies still contain some useful elements, out of which he constructs their successor: the Fourth Political Theory. This theory does not base its understanding of history on class, race, or the individual, but on Dasein, Heidegger’s term for humanity.

For Dugin, the ideal (“authentic,” in Heideggerian terminology) basis for individuals and societies is tradition, so history must therefore be the history of traditions, with politics in a secondary role. Thus the conflict between Atlanticism and Eurasianism can be understood as the conflict between individualistic societies and societies of tradition. Conveniently, Dugin sees Putin’s Russia as a natural leader in the resurgence of the latter and in the formation of its Grossraum.

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