There is another kind of asymmetry at work here as well. Universalist
ideas undergird democracy promotion; autocrats have nothing so allencompassing to promote. The “divine right of kings” is hard to resuscitate, while concepts such as political Islam or “Asian values” enjoy no
currency outside certain culturally defined regions. The “Eurasianism”
that lies at the heart of Putin’s aggressive behavior is nothing but a new
incarnation of the Russian imperial idea: It can only be attractive to
Great Russian nationalists.