The Eurasianism of Russian Anti-Westernism and the Concept of "Central Caucaso-Asia"

Abstract

The disintegration of the Soviet Union raised the question of how to reinterpret post-Soviet geography, including that of Central Eurasia. Russian Eurasianism, which equates Russia with Eurasia, became one popular approach in the post-Soviet space. This approach uses Eurasianism as theoretical justification of contemporary Russian anti-Westernism. An alternative view of the latest regional divisions of the post-Soviet space links the states of the Central Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia) and Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) to form a new region—Central Caucaso-Asia. Unlike contemporary Russian Eurasianism, the concept of Central Caucaso-Asia favors strengthening the state sovereignty of countries in this region.