Eurasian integration as a way to respond to global challenges

Abstract

The present PhD thesis is dedicated to the process of establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union. The analysis it provides represents application of the state-centric theories of integration elaborated by the Anglo-Saxon school of international relations on the case of cooperation in the post-Soviet area. The research covers the timeframe from the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991 to the establishment of the EAEU on the 1st of January of 2015.In general terms, the analysis is done through application of the system-subsystem approach, where system refers to the international milieu influenced by external actors and formed by internal ones, while subsystem refers to the regime of the Eurasian community. All twelve CIS members that potentially can favor a new integration project in the post-Soviet space are included into the research; however, most attention is paid to the founding members of the EAEU (Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus).The main idea of the thesis is that all integrating countries are driven to process of Eurasian cooperation by national interests and considerations determined by their domestic political systems and consider integration as an instrument of improving their internal political and economic situations.The analysis demonstrates that the EAEU is based on equality of all participating nations, allows them respond to global and domestic challenges they are faced with, comes in line with the world capitalist system and promotes integration of its member-states into the international community under the most favorable conditions.