The Domestic Linkages to Eurasian States’ Perception on Global Politics: ‘Normative Idioms’ versus Empirical Practices

Volume:40
Issue:6
Review Essay

Eurasia’s preponderance in global politics is gaining because of its location, resources, as well as mosaic population having diverse ethnic backgrounds. Since the invasion by the Mongolians in the 13th century, Eurasia as a geopolitical unity, attempted by Chengiz Khan, has been the foundation for Russia’s policies towards this region, which has been a hotbed of competition among the Persian, Turkic and Russian Tsarist empires, and the British Empire also competed for influence in the region. Though some consider it as the ‘states of Asia and Europe’, or ‘territorial limit from Russia to Central Asia’, there seems to be no unanimity as to what constitutes the geographical definition of ‘Eurasia’. The Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated a new geopolitical regional grouping known as the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) for continuing this geopolitical tradition. This regional organisation was supposed to provide the necessary impetus to Russian geopolitical goals of ‘reclaiming the Soviet past’ and pose ‘long-term’ challenges to the Chinese ‘hegemonisation’ of the space and a ‘short-term’ challenge to the ‘Western alliances’.

Keywords: Russia