Eurasian encounters : the Eurasian Economic Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

This article examines the emerging interactions between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Drawing on the theoretical insights of the literature on comparative regionalism, it develops a framework for analysis of how the two organisations relate to one another. The article starts by looking at the commercial dimension of the EAEU–SCO relationship. It focuses on interregional trade and investment and examines the prospect of a free trade area and a currency zone between the two organisations. The second strand of analysis present in this article is the institutionalist one. Here the interaction between the EAEU and the SCO is conceptualised in terms of formal relations between regional organisations as juridical entities. The third strand of analysis draws on the insights of the constructivist school. Here EAEU–SCO relations are seen to be driven above all by intersubjective forces. The final approach to the study of EAEU–SCO relations taken in this article focuses on how these relations are constituted technologically. The article thus looks at how the two organisations interact at the level of infrastructure. It is argued that at this level of interaction the EAEU–SCO relationship is strongest and most dynamic.