Abstract ♦ The article discusses the implementation of the fundamental ideas of the historical group of “Eurasian” intellectuals; ideas which played an important role in the formation of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Unlike the Russian émigré thinkers who mainly focused on such issues as the place of Eurasia in the world history or Eurasia as a civilizational phenomenon, their followers — organizers of the Eurasian movement, both theorists and practitioners — were driven by the worldwide trends of the historical process (globalization, Westernization, Orientalization, integration, etc.) and have focused on political and socioeconomic issues.
It has been stated that politicians from Western Europe also showed a certain interest towards Eurasianism as an ontological and political phenomenon. For instance, after World War II, President de Gaulle was inspired by the idea of “the Greater Europe”, from Dublin to Vladivostok. His practical work resonated with the research of Karl Haushofer, the famous German geopolitical theorist, who developed the fundamental concept of the Kontinentalblok covering the whole great continent of Eurasia.
The article investigates the integrational processes on the post-Soviet territory, starting from the rise interstate associations — the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Customs Union, the Eurasian Economic Community to the Eurasian Economic Union.
The CIS appeared to be a vague interstate union with a disrupted single socio-economic complex, unsustainable national economies and diverging legislations. Gradually, the idea of integration started to shape in the organizational and legal sense. In 1996 the Customs Union was founded, then consisting of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Republic of Belarus. It was followed by an agreement on the Common Free Economic Zone concluded in 1999. The union state of Russia and Belarus was also established. In 2000, upon the initiative of N.A. Nazarbayev, the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEc) was founded. Thus, a number of socioeconomic and political preconditions made setting up the Eurasian Economic Union possible. The corresponding agreement was signed on May 29, 2014 by Nursultan Nazarbayev, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko.
Thus, the creation of a new integration association on the Eurasian continent is based on civilizational, economic, social and cultural traditions of the peoples of the region — traditions which have been around for a number of centuries.
Korolev Anatoly Akimovich, Doctor of History, Professor, Department of History, Moscow University for the Humanities; Honoured Scientist of the Russian Federation. Postal address: 5 Yunosti St., Moscow, Russian Federation, 111395. Tel.: +7 (499) 374-55-81. E-mail:
anatoliy-korolev@rambler.ru
Citation: Korolev, A. À. (2015) Evraziistvo: ot idei k sovremennoi praktike [Eurasianism: From ideas to contemporary practice]. Znanie. Ponimanie. Umenie, no. 1, pp. 38–52. DOI: 10.17805/zpu.2015.1.4 (In Russ.).
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