The political-theoretical subproject examines the aetiological narrative patterns of the ideological current of Russian Neo-Eurasianism. The project will examine the narrative-explanatory assertion of a recurring confrontation between Eurasia and the West that emerged in the Middle Ages and has prevailed ever since – and test the thesis that neo-Eurasianism must be understood not only as a geopolitical movement, but also as an aetiological narrative of conflict. On the one hand, the project focuses on the narrative-aetiological means of plausibilizing this conflict (including iconographic strategies and narratives of intellectual traditions), and on the other, on its role in legitimizing an aggressive imperial programme.

The aim of the project is not only to productively apply the aetiological perspective of analysis to the currently politically particularly salient neo-Eurasianism in its ideological foundations, claims to validity and power strategies; it also evaluates this non-western case of political origin narrative for the aetiological conceptualization of the research group. It will also examine from a political theory perspective to what extent the neo-Eurasianist case has implications for a broader systematization of imperial aetiology.