Abstract
Region-related formats (i.e. regional trading blocs, interregional alliances, mega-regional blocs) have significantly raised their role in settling current global economic, political, social and security agendas. The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is the most successful integration project in the post-Soviet region. From the theoretical side, EU-centered theories on regionalism have generally failed to fully conceptualize Eurasian integration. Thus, when studied under the comparative regionalism approach, Eurasian integration holds a number of distinctive features. For instance, unlike in the EU, the EAEU displays a relatively low level of intra-regional economic interdependence but a rather high degree of power delegation to regional institutes. Therefore, the Eurasian integration should not be viewed through the prism of economic factors only but should also embrace common history, common values and security externalities. In 2010–2019 Eurasian integration has overall contributed to the development of the EAEU states’ economies (both quantitatively and qualitatively) given the pressure of adverse external factors (i.e. economic turbulence and sanctions imposed on Russia). EAEU states have also proportionally advanced in the creation of a common regulative framework; nevertheless, there is still much to be done. It has been revealed that in order to strengthen its global competitiveness the EAEU should explore the modalities of syndicated regionalism involving greater cooperation between regional blocks and their institutions (i.e. development banks). Thus, under this framework there are three possible gateways for the EAEU to strengthen its global competitiveness by forging alliances with other regional bodies: BRICS+, the pan-continental model and R20.
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Lissovolik, Y.D., Pak, E.V., Zhang, H. (2021). Economic Framework for Eurasian Integration: Theory and Practice. In: Piskulova, N.A. (eds) The Economic Dimension of Eurasian Integration. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59886-0_1
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