| Summary/Abstract |
The article analyzes the development of the Eurasian Economic Union
(EAEU) before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic through the
lens of the so-called integration dilemma, when one state perceives its
neighbors’ integration into an economic alliance as a threat to its own
security or prosperity. The authors consider the processes of interstate and
supranational adaptation, as well as the adaptation of the basic model of
integration to the existing practices of interaction as part of the project to
ensure four freedoms. The institutional inertia characteristic of the EAEU
and the manifest desire primarily to prevent development risks are caused by the “hybrid nature” of the integration association, in which interstate ties
and the interests of states often outweigh supranational ones. At the same
time, integration cooperation made it possible for the member states to
somewhat harmonize and coordinate their joint response to the pandemic.
Sweeping anti-Russian sanctions have created new, unprecedented risks
for integration cooperation, but at the same time have opened up certain
opportunities to overcome their consequences.
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