Statecraft and Post-Imperial Attractiveness: Eurasian Integration and Russia as a Great Power

The article explores the effects of the Soviet legacy on efforts to promote regional integration in the post-Soviet space and Russia's approach to integration, based primarily on the example of the Commonwealth of Independent States. It begins with an exploration of the nature of Russia's imperial past and how attitudes deriving from that have affected integration projects. Post-imperial attitudes have both impelled Russia to pursue integration and proved to be an obstacle to achieving it. The relative failure of integration projects has led to a tendency on the part of Russia to use statecraft rather than relying on past imperial connections in the region.