The Eurasian Economic Union and the challenge of the BRI: a comparison of their respective impacts on economic development and Russia’s regional leadership

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article analyzes how China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has affected the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) as a project of regional economic integration. In particular, it examines whether the EAEU and the BRI are transforming the regional division of labor in the EAEU and providing the EAEU economic periphery new opportunities for industrialization and technological upgrading through insertion into international production networks. By comparing the EAEU and the BRI with other regional economic integration processes such as the EU, NAFTA, ASEAN+3 and Mercosur, it highlights the limits of the EAEU as a tool for economic integration and for enhancing Russia’s economic leadership in the region.