Contesting Eurasia

Eurasia is emerging as a region of economic growth and opportunity, cultural change and tension, of isolation and invitation. Among the issues driving this international resurgence are ethnic and territorial conflict, identity politics, lucrative trade and communications deals, energy abundance, environmental change and a resurgent Russia. This complex landscape of imposed and unresolved borders, is a space of competing narratives, with scenarios for the region’s future ranging from a unified economic space extending from the Black Sea to the Bering Strait, to a space where indigenous peoples practice self-determination and imagine home across state boundaries. These competing and contradictory visions of Eurasia create challenges for states, indigenous groups, NGOs and corporate interests alike, each wishing to guide the region’s future. Contesting Eurasia explores the competing narratives for the region’s future and evaluates the options for reproducing, modifying, challenging or disregarding state power in the modern world.