Russia’s Metaphysical Diplomat: Dugin’s Ideological Circulation in the Global South

This article examines Alexander Dugin’s role as a kind of metaphysical diplomat within Russia’s post-2022 strategy of de-Westernization. Rather than exporting a rigid worldview, Dugin has advanced a flexible ideological grammar that regional actors have adapted to their own struggles against liberal modernity. Drawing on four case studies—India, Brazil, Argentina, and West Africa—this article traces the circulation and reception of Dugin’s discourse through symbolic diplomacy and transnational networks of fellow travelers. It argues that Dugin’s global ideological project functions as a modular system: the core components promoted in his Fourth Political Theory—anti-liberalism, spiritual traditionalism, and civilizational multipolarity—are selectively taken up and rearticulated depending on the political, cultural, and religious dynamics of each receiving context.