S. Roberts & U. Ziemer

Welcome to RUCARR seminar 2nd June!

Sean Roberts & Ulrike Ziemer: “Russia's Leadership in Eurasia: Holding Together or Falling Apart?”

Speakers

Sean Roberts & Ulrike Ziemer

Abstract

Developments in the post-Soviet space continue to raise important questions on the strength of Russia’s regional leadership. However, gauging the cohesion of Russian-led Eurasia is complicated by competing images of Russia’s relations with long-standing allies—notably Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan—which are often portrayed in terms of a ‘community of fate’ or partners destined for closer integration but also as a ‘community of fortune’ or ad hoc, situational partners, loosely centered on Russia. By drawing on the English School of International Relations and considering Russian-led Eurasia as an example of a nascent, regional interstate society, bound together by shared interests and values but also Russian hegemony, we understand how Russia’s ‘rights’ and ‘responsibilities’ serve to simultaneously unite and divide the region.