The Eurasian Economic Union – keeping up with the EU and China

Ann-Sophie Gast

Post-Communist Economies, 2021, vol. 33, issue 2-3, 175-199

Abstract: Among the numerous Eurasian regional organisations (ROs) founded since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) sticks out as the first comprehensive economic integration agreement, in which member states give up sovereignty in the area of external trade. For the first time, Russia foregoes its veto power in one of the bodies of the EAEU. This is especially puzzling given that all EAEU member states are non-democratic regimes, which usually do not enter agreements that limit their room for manoeuvre and opportunities to control rents. This article investigates the reasons for why Russia opted for the deepening of regional integration and relinquished sovereignty to the regional level. The article contends that autocratic states create ROs to mitigate threats to regime survival and stability. If the leading state, which initiates and sponsors the creation of ROs, perceives threats to its survival as grave enough and the RO promises adequate remedies, it will be willing to agree to compromises and side payments. Drawing on a sample of speeches and official statements as well as on a series of elite interviews, the analysis proves that the EAEU is a means of regime survival in light of Russia’s perceived encirclement by China and the EU.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/14631377.2020.1827200 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:pocoec:v:33:y:2021:i:2-3:p:175-199

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/CPCE20

DOI: 10.1080/14631377.2020.1827200

Access Statistics for this article

Post-Communist Economies is currently edited by Roger Clarke

More articles in Post-Communist Economies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().