Economic integration of Eurasia: Opportunities and challenges of global significance

This paper, by Johannes F. Linn and David Tiomkin, has been prepared for the international conference entitled “Europe after the enlargement”, to be hosted by the Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE) in Warsaw on 8-9 April.

Abstract 

With the collapse of the Soviet Empire in 1991, a new frontier in the process of globalization of the world economy opened up: the economic integration of the Eurasian “super-continent”. This paper begins to explore the process and prospects of economic integration of the huge land-mass that stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans and from the Arctic Sea to the Indian Ocean. Since the Eurasian economic integration process is of global significance, there are also geo-political aspects and implications to be considered. This paper touches on some of these at the end, but focuses principally on exploring the economic dimensions and significance of the integration process of Eurasia. It compiles evidence on Eurasian integration in the areas of energy and non-energy trade and transport, illicit drug trade, investment and capital flows, migration, and communication and knowledge. It concludes with a consideration of the institutional and political dimensions that affect regional cooperation for Eurasia and with some broad policy recommendations. The paper represents only a first step in what is necessarily a major research undertaking. But the authors hope that it will provoke thought, debate and follow-up research.

To read the paper in full, visit the Center for Social and Economic Research website.