Governing the Ungovernable: Challenges to Russian-led Regional Integration and a Rules-Based Order in the Eurasian Space

Using Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT), this thesis argues for the existence of a regional subcomplex within the post-Soviet space, defined as the Eurasian Integration Space (EIS). This subcomplex is marked by unusual conditions of extreme disparities in power relations, strong great-power penetration and deep economic and security interlinkages. As a result, it has fostered a Grotian regional society characterised by friendly relations between the states, compared to security regimes and conflict formations which otherwise predominate in the post-Soviet space. The key to this cultural understanding has been Eurasian integration, which is both a material process of absolute economic gains and an ideational process of constructing anchoring identities for frail and vulnerable states. However, the norms which these states have inculcated to protect their statehood also countervail against closer integration. At the same time, greater external interactions and involvement in the space threaten to alter its character or subsume it into its neighbouring regions.