Convergence between the United States and Russia is most often expressed in socio-economic terms. Very rarely in regard to ideology. The political culture and history of the two nations are just too different. But the ideological convergence that was unthinkable decades ago is now not so easily dismissed when it comes to the far right. As Alexandar Mikahilovic explains in Illiberal Vanguard, rightists like Alexander Dugin and Kevin McDonald politically intersect. Steve Bannon keeps Lenin in his political toolkit. And American and Russian rightwing politics of homophobia, illiberalism, and ire for global elites are interchangeable. How did this convergence come to be? And what does it say about the United States and Russia in our present moment? The Eurasian Knot spoke to Alexandar Mikhailovic about this unlikely convergence between the American and Russian far-right.

Guest:

Alexandar Mihailovic is a Professor Emeritus of Russian and Comparative Literature at Hofstra University. He is the author of many books on Russian culture. His two most recent books are Screening Solidarity: Neoliberalism and Transnational Cinemas, co-authored with Patricia A. Simpson and Helga Druxes published by Bloomsbury and Illiberal Vanguard: Populist Elitism in the United States and Russia published by University of Wisconsin Press.

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