Book Talk: Russia’s World Order

The idea of “civilizationism” has become a key part both of the Russian establishment’s image of Russia and of Russia’s diplomatic and intellectual outreach to the “Global South”. It helps to explain why so many countries around the world have refused to join the West in imposing sanctions on Russia in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Broadly speaking, civilizationism rejects the view that Western liberal capitalist democracy represents the “end of history” and a goal to which all countries should and indeed must aspire. Drawing on deep roots in history and philosophy (European and Asian as well as Russian), civilizationism argues for a plurality of civilizations, all of which have contributions to make to human development and world order.

To discuss these issues, Anatol Lieven, director of the Eurasia program at the Quincy Institute, is joined by Professor Paul Robinson, a leading expert on Russian thought and author of Russia’s World Order: How Civilizationism Explains the Conflict with the West, published in April 2025 by Cornell University Press.