Eurasian States: Socio-Economic and Political Processes

Contents: Introduction/Arun Mohanty and Ajay Patnaik. Section I: Eurasian Space: Concepts and Debates. 1. Greater Europe and Eurasian Integration/Richard Sakwa. 2. Migration in the Eurasian space and the formation of regional linkages/Rashmi Doraiswamy. 3. Methodological problems of studying the post-soviet regime changes/Kharitonova Oxana. 4. New Eurasia in the focus of a multipolar world: the thorns of transformation/Sattar Fazylovich Mazhitov and Seidakhan U. Bakhtorazov. 5. De-Facto statehood as a phenomenon of the Post-Soviet Development/Sergey Markedonov. Section II: Economic and Social Issues in Eurasia. 6. On a politico-economical approach to the analysis of the transitional processes in the Post-Soviet States/Andrei Ryabov. 7. The Eurasian Union: problems and prospects of the Caspian region/R.H. Usmanov. 8. Ecological culture in the modern societies of Russia, China and Mongolia/Marina N. Baldano. 9. Anti-crisis policy of g20 monetary authorities (2008-2014)/Viacheslav M. Shavhukov and Arun Mohanty.10. New perspectives in natural resources and Central Asia/Liyaqat Ayub Khan.11. Sino-Russian relations in the new era/Shi Ze. 12. Regional security in the Eurasian landscape: Russia’s relations with the Post-Soviet Sates/Ramakrushna Pradhan.13. Current geopolitics and geo-economics in the Central and South Asian Regional Integration/Kambarov Bakytzhan and Dossova Senymgul. 14. The commonwealth of independent states: realities and prospects/Konstantin Kurylyov.15. Transition from the ‘Great Game’ to a Succession of ‘New Games’ in Eurasia in General and Central Asia in Particular: A Boon or Bane?/Moazzam Ali. Section IV: Transition in Russia.16. Religion, religiosity and the Russian state/Archana Upadhyay.17. Formation of the civil society in Russia: through the lens of the civilisational approach/Kosov G.18. Social Issues in Russia after 1991/Sanjay Deshpande.19. The North Caucasus in the system of National Security of Russia/Victor Panin. 20. Faces of political Islam in the Russian Federation/Irina Kudryashova. 21. Immigration, Economy and National Identity: a case study of Post-Soviet Russia/Vijay Kumar. 22. Ukraine in Ferment/P. L. Dash. 22. Geopolitics of regime change in Ukraine/Ajay Patnaik. 24. Culture and identity: the challenges of reintegrating crimea/Preeti D. Das. 25. EU’s Eastern partnership: walking the tightrope/Bhaswati Sarkar. 26. Ukrainisation policies and National identity in Ukraine: A View from Odessa/Abel Polese. 27. Indo-Russian Relations under UPA Rule/Prof Arun Mohanty. 28. India–Russia Trade and Economic cooperation: two decades of lost opportunities/Vinay Shukla. 29. India–Russia economic ties: the need for intensive engagement/R. G. Gidadhubli. 30. Prospects of Russia in the Indian mining sector/Samar Shakil. 31. The Dynamics of Indo-Russian relations: continuity and change/Brahmananda Satapathy. 32. Indo-Russian Cooperation in Defence R&D/V. Bhujanga Rao. 33. Trade and investment cooperation between Russia and India/Evgeny Korshunov.

Eurasia, a region which essentially consists of the former Soviet republics, has always drawn international attention because of its geographical location, strategic significance and the presence of huge amounts of natural resources. This region has become an arena of sharp competition for influence between all the major powers in the world-the US, the European Union, China, Japan, India, Turkey, Iran, besides many others. The Eurasian states are about to complete the first 25 years of their independent existence and tumultuous transition. Each of the European states has chosen its own strategy for development as wells as its foreign policy priorities. While the democratic reforms in these countries have faced enormous problems, the economic transition from a state-controlled economy to a market one has been painful. There is no single model that can characterise the entire region in terms of its political and socio-economic transformation. The prevalence of ethnic tensions combined with frozen conflicts between many of the CIS countries has compounded the situation. The competing integration processes sponsored by the major powers have further exacerbated tensions in the former Soviet space. 

While Russia, the major state in the region, is India’s special and privileged strategic partner, Central Asia falls in its extended neighbourhood, thus highlighting its significance in terms of India’s long-term interests. While the Western analyses of the developments in the region remain largely subjective and biased, India needs to develop its own perspective in order to best serve its interests, as developments in that part of the globe can have immense implications for New Delhi. 

The volume discusses in depth, the political and economic developments as well as the issues related to the stability, security and integration of the region. Scholars from many foreign countries including Russia and other CIS countries as well as Indian experts from different universities have analysed issues such as inter-state relations, the role of external players, issues of socio-cultural developments as well as India’s bilateral relations with the member states of the CIS.