The interaction of Eurasian integration with the EU and the Silk Road: International Politics and Political Economy

Vladimir Putin’s proposal to establish the Eurasian Union, while capitalizing on domestic Soviet nostalgia, had two further main aims: to enhance Russia’s security and political clout; and to ensure a favourable climate for Russian business in the former Soviet republics, where Russia’s influence has generally been in decline since the collapse of the USSR. Western influence, especially in the states attracted by European Union (EU) integration, and Chinese economic penetration in Central Asia have both grown at the expense of Russia. Putin sought to re-assert the Kremlin’s interests. He saw the formation of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in January 2015 as the first step towards the creation of a political Eurasian Union, and the EEU is widely seen as primarily a geopolitical initiative promoted by Russia.
The fundamental question for this one-day workshop will be whether the EEU is viable as a force for integration, and whether it can cope with the rival integration processes facing it from West and East. This is linked with other questions. Does the EU, weakened by Brexit, the immigration crisis and emerging nationalism among its Eastern members, still offer an attractive alternative for the people of the post-Soviet states? Is China’s rise unstoppable? What would make Moscow stop bandwagoning with Beijing on the world stage and instead balance against it?