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Introduction: W(h)ither Eurasian Regionalization?
The three forces that shape the global political economy today are globalization, regionalization, and nationalism. These three forces cannot be assessed in isolation, independently from one another, nor from a perspective of
either law or policy alone. Since the dismantlement of the Soviet Union (USSR), the post-Soviet area became a disputed space where newly created sovereign states, global corporations, foreign interests, old capital and newly-landed oligarchy aligned together either to allow or to resist regional (re)integration. Recent decades have shown advantages and downsides of international trade, a market economy, the developmental rule of law, state ownership of energy companies and general monopoly of the state, and what do those mean for each country in the region. One feature, however, remains intact—undeniable economic and geographical closeness typical for any neighbourliness. The geopolitics and in particular the geoeconomics of the region, existing chains of production and regulatory diversity along with freed market forces have driven most states of the region to look for plural forms of cooperation and exchange while setting apart for a long time (whither forever?) some neighbours.