Imperial nostalgia or prudent geopolitics? Russia's efforts to reintegrate the post-Soviet space in geopolitical perspective

After stagnating throughout most of the 1990s and 2000s, Russia's efforts to reintegrate the post-Soviet space are finally gathering momentum. According to President Vladimir Putin, Russia's goal is to establish a Eurasian Economic Union “capable of becoming one of the poles in a future multi-polar world.” Most existing studies see Russia's imperial and post-Soviet legacies as the driving forces behind these efforts. Although they offer valuable insights, these studies fail to explain the timing of Russia's push for deeper regional integration. This article examines these developments from a geopolitical perspective and compares Eurasian regionalism with the regional integration projects of other great powers (more specifically, Brazil and Mercosur/Unasur and China and ASEAN+1). All three efforts are occurring at a time when the international system is in flux and the ability of the USA and other Western powers to deliver key global collective goods is being called into question. Regional integration must ultimately be seen as a strategy by Russia and other great powers to respond to these challenges and prepare themselves for an unpredictable future.