A historical analysis of the failure of the Eurasian economic integration

Abstract

Since the fall of the USSR, the development of the integration process has become a foreign policy priority of the former Soviet territory. However, Moscow has failed to achieve this goal: no established structure could lead to significant integration. This research provides a historical review of the Eurasian economic integration. Employing an analysis of the international agreements and treaties that were behind the activities of the Eurasian integration unions, we reveal the specific features of economic integration communities’ evolution in the post-Soviet territory within the period from the Soviet Union collapse to the present date and assess their true fails and gains. The findings reveal that the Eurasian integration appears to have evolved mostly "on paper" in the form of various documents but has had no practical implementation. Its development was characterized by permanent cycles, which member countries attempted to overcome, establishing new integration entities. However, their interest gradually faded, making EAEU feel like the last attempt to implement a Eurasian integration processes.