Economic or Geopolitical? Explaining the Motives and Expectations of the Eurasian Economic Union’s Member States

Abstract

The essay proceeds from the assumptions that for a economic/political integration group to succeed, first, its participants' motives should ideally be as alike as possible and not oppose one another and, second, their expectations from integration should correspond to the organisation's capabilities. In light of these assumptions, the study endeavours to assess the Eurasian Economic Union's (EAEU) potential for stability and development. First, the author analyses the key motives that were driving its member states' decisions to enter the organisation, compares them with one another and discusses how the countries' motives influence their conduct in the union. Second, the author confronts those motives against the EAEU's activities and the general logic of interstate politics on the post-Soviet space to reckon up whether the bloc's capabilities fit with the expectations of its member countries. Finally, based on that discussion, the author speculates on how the divergence/convergence of EAEU member states' goals, as well as the (in-) feasibility of their expectations, affect the organisation's development.

Comparative structural analysis of economic growth in countries of the Eurasian Economic Union

“…Structural analysis showed the difference in the current patterns of economic growth and regulatory methods applied in member countries. In contrast to other works (Bezrukov, 2018;Salnikov et al, 2016;Patalakh, 2018), which did not take into account the structure of growth, the impact of economic policies and stability of growth, our study investigates the structure of growth, the stability of growth rates and the influence of economic policies in the Union's member countries.…”

The construction of “post-hegemonic multipolarity” in Eurasia: A comparative perspective

“…Second, there are persisting tensions between several of the member states, for example Russia and Belarus. Belarus has violated Russia's anti-EU food embargo, failed to attend the EAEU 2016 Summit, and deliberately disrupted EAEU bodies in 2019 over energy disputes (Vinokurov 2017;Yeliseyeu 2019, Patalakh 2018. There also seems to be a difference of opinion between Russia and Kazakhstan regarding the reasons for the EAEU's existence.…”