Is It Really Different? Patterns of Regionalisation in the Post-SovietCentral Asia

While the regional economic integration encompassing the former Soviet Union (FSU) transpiresto be inefficient, there appears to be a stronger interest in regionalism in smaller groupsof more homogenous and geographically connected countries of the region, specifically, CentralAsia. Using a new dataset, we find that although the economic links between the CentralAsian countries are more pronounced than between that of the CIS in several key areas, thisadvantage has been disappearing fast over the last decade. In addition, the trend of economicintegration of Central Asia strongly correlates to that of the CIS in general. Currently CentralAsia should be treated as a sub-region of the post-Soviet world rather than a definite integrationregion.On the other hand, however, we find that Kazakhstan emerges as a new centre forregional integration, which can bear some potential for regionalism in Central Asia, and thatthere is an increasing trend towards greater economic interconnections with China in Central Asia.