The Dawn of Western Totalitarianism | Dr Arta Moeini

Arta Moeini is the Director of Research at the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy (IPD), a North American international affairs think tank committed to advancing the principles of realism and restraint in the English-speaking world. Dr. Moeini is an international political theorist and a revisionist scholar of Nietzsche and Modernity whose interests lie at the nexus of contrasting traditions of political realism, culture and politics, and international relations theory. His dissertation, The Case for Anthro-Culturalism: A Nietzschean Rejoinder to MacIntyre’s Critique of Modernity, is an in-depth exegesis of the works of Alasdair MacIntyre and Friedrich Nietzsche, which argues that the fundamental pathology afflicting Modernity is not valuelessness (i.e., axiological crisis) but meaninglessness and will-lessness (i.e., an onto-practical crisis), the latter having profound cultural, political, and international ramifications.

Moeini’s current research focuses on the interplay between history of ideas and foreign policy, drawing attention to how a universalist ideology and cosmopolitan elite formation processes combine to secure and advance domestic and international hegemony for a global liberal establishment increasingly facing a legitimacy crisis. He is the author of numerous studies and white papers published by IPD on the future of the international system, the decline of the liberal international order, and the rise of middle powers. His writings have previously appeared in UnHerd, The National Interest, and The American Conservative among others.

Dr. Moeini holds B.A. in Political Science and Near Eastern Studies from the University of California Berkeley, an M.A. in International Relations from Johns Hopkins SAIS, and a Ph.D. (with distinction) and M.A. in Government from Georgetown University.

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