Establishing the Eurasian Union : political and economic perspectives

Abstract

This study is going to be forecasted on a very interesting and controversial topic: the process of integration within the post-Soviet space. Particular emphasis will be placed on the Eurasian Union (EAU) which is expected to aggregate human potential, natural resources as well as industrial capabilities of Kazakhstan, Belarus and Russia under the auspices of supranational trading block in 2015. Undoubtedly, the establishing of the EAU is going to become the most ambitious and grandiose event within the Eurasian space since the very breakup of USSR. But will this Eurasian Union have any hypothetical chances to become a prosperous economic block with well-balanced distribution of power among the member-states or will it facilitate the Kremlin to establish a new form of dictatorship over its former satellite-states? In order to provide an accurate answer for the aforementioned question, it is crucial to study the phenomenon of the Eurasian Union from various perspectives. For instance, in order to ascertain the driving forces of the integration among postSoviet republics, it is indispensable to refer to the classical approaches of International Political Economy and International Relations Theory. Furthermore, it will also be appropriate to evaluate the extent to which the Soviet pattern of federal governance may be applicable for the conceptual Eurasian Union in terms of economic system and type of governance. Ultimately, analysing currently existing organizational frameworks and structures which embody former Soviet states can also shed some light on the issue of Eurasian Union. Taken together, the findings of this study indicate that the majority of political scholars and analysts, who specialize in the realm of post-Soviet integration, 3 unanimously state that the Eurasian Union will not bear sufficient economic benefits and payoffs for its member-states unless the following internal challenges are more or less settled: high level of corruption, tangible economic underdevelopment and dependence on export of raw within its member-states. Ultimately, the recent case of the Crimean annexation by Russia in March 2014 serves as a clear evidence of Kremlin's claims on the regional leadership. Therefore, it is very doubtful that the democratic institutional framework of the Eurasian Union will have something in common with that of the EU.