This volume examines Russian discourses of regionalism as a source of identity construction practices for the country's political and intellectual establishment. The overall purpose of the monograph is to demonstrate that, contrary to some assumptions, the transition trajectory of post-Soviet Russia has not been towards a liberal democratic nation state that is set to emulate Western political and normative standards. Instead, its foreign policy discourses have been constructing Russia as a supranational community which transcends Russia's current legally established borders. The study undertakes a systematic and comprehensive survey of Russian official (authorities) and semi-official (establishment affiliated think tanks) discourse for a period of seven years between 2007 and 2013. This exercise demonstrates how Russia is being constructed as a supranational entity through its discourses of cultural and economic regionalism. These discourses associate closely with the political project of Eurasian economic integration and the "Russian world" and "Russian civilization" doctrines. Both ideologies, the geoeconomic and culturalist, have gained prominence in the post-Crimean environment. The analysis tracks down how these identitary concepts crystallized in Russia's foreign policies discourses beginning from Vladimir Putin's second term in power.

A team of high-ranking members from the CIS administration and economic experts analyses the market-oriented transformations as well as specific features of the market evolving in the 12 states. Using a wide range of statistical data, the authors deal with industry, agriculture, the military-industrial complex, the scientific and social sphere, finance and investment, market infrastructure, and international trade. They develop a centrist concept for sustainable development and economic integration that offers the possibility of overcoming the current problems. Provides Western readers with an insider view of the present situation and a wealth of valuable statistical data.

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia has been marginalized at the edge of a Western-dominated political and economic system. In recent years, however, leading Russian figures, including former president Vladimir Putin, have begun to stress a geopolitics that puts Russia at the center of a number of axes: European-Asian, Christian-Muslim-Buddhist, Mediterranean-Indian, Slavic-Turkic, and so on. This volume examines the political presuppositions and expanding intellectual impact of Eurasianism, a movement promoting an ideology of Russian-Asian greatness, which has begun to take hold throughout Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkey. Eurasianism purports to tell Russians what is unalterably important about them and why it can only be expressed in an empire. Using a wide range of sources, Marlène Laruelle discusses the impact of the ideology of Eurasianism on geopolitics, interior policy, foreign policy, and culturalist philosophy.

Through a series of essays, Eurasian Environments prompts us to rethink our understanding of tsarist and Soviet history by placing the human experience within the larger environmental context of flora, fauna, geology, and climate. This book is a broad look at the environmental history of Eurasia, specifically examining steppe environments, hydraulic engineering, soil and forestry, water pollution, fishing, and the interaction of the environment and disease vectors. Throughout, the authors place the history of Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union in a trans-chronological, comparative context, seamlessly linking the local and the global. The chapters are rooted in the ecological and geological specificities of place and community while unveiling the broad patterns of human-nature relationships across the planet. Eurasian Environments brings together an international group scholars working on issues of tsarist/Soviet environmental history in an effort to showcase the wave of fascinating and field-changing research currently being written.

This book presents an unprecedented dialogue with leading U.S., Russian, and Eurasian economic experts and policy-makers on the pivotal issues of economic reform, trade, and investment, and the prospects for an economic renaissance in the new states of the former Soviet Union. Contributors include Eduard Shevardnadze, Yegor Gaidar, Lee H. Hamilton, S. Frederick Starr, Anders Aslund, and German O. Gref.

Machine generated contents note: Introduction --Part One: A FAREWELL TO THE EMPIRE -- 1. The Spacial Dimension of Russian History -- 2. The Break-Up of the USSR: A Break in Continuity --Part Two: RUSSIA'S THREE FACADES -- 3. The Western Facade -- 4. The Southern Tier -- 5. The Far Eastern Backyard --Part Three: INTEGRATION -- 6. Domestic Boundaries and the Russian Question -- 7. Fitting Russia In --Conclusion: AFTER EURASIA.

"Moscow's overarching ambition toward Europe is to expand the "Eurasian space" in which Russia is the dominant political player. For Moscow, this means transforming Europe into an appendage of the Russian sphere of influence and debilitating Euro-Atlanticism by undercutting Europe's connections with the United States. The author explains that the most effective and realistic long-term Western strategy toward Russia needs to combine "practical engagement" with "strategic assertiveness.""--BOOK JACKET.