Professor Andrej Krickovic participated in the conference “Russia’s Power: Instruments and Dilemmas”

On November 29 Professor Andrej Krickovic participated in the conference “Russia’s Power: Instruments and Dilemmas” hosted by the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) in Paris. 

In his presentation: “From Greater Europe to Greater Eurasia: Is Eurasian Integration Broken?” Professor Krickovic evaluated Russia’s led efforts at Eurasian integration and their prospects for the future. Though Eurasian Integration has been a moderate economic success it has failed to live up to the geopolitical expectations that Russia has placed on it. Initially it was hoped that Eurasian Integration would facilitate the creation of a Greater Europe from Dublin to Vladivostok (what analysts such as Richard Sakwa have called the “integration of integrations”). This plan fell through with the crisis in Ukraine and Russia’s subsequent estrangement from the West. Now the emphasis has shifted towards building a Greater Eurasia, which will not only integrate the countries of the former Soviet space but will also include China and other major Eurasian powers such as India, Turkey and Iran. The success of this ambitious and historically “game changing” project will depend on Russia and China’s ability to deepen and expand their economic relations, to manage their conflicts of interest in Central Asia, and to respond to non-conventional regional security challenges, as well as on the actions of smaller regional states -- whose room to maneuver and resist the dominance of great powers has increased in today’s complex interdependent world.