ABSTRACT
Eurasia emerged as a crucial theatre in international politics after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The uncertainty that ensued in Europe's east and Asia's west following the end of bipolar politics at the termination of the Cold War led emerging countries of the region to search for ways to address their concerns and meet challenges and opportunities posed by internal and external factors. Two trends emerging in the post-Soviet space altered the balance of power in the Eurasian region: first, the emergence of new nation-states with diverse potentials and an array of developments marked by instability, violence and competing spheres of influence. Second, new vistas opened up for nation-states outside the Eurasian landmass to interact and shape relations in the region. The region's growing openness to the outside world in terms of new relations, transportation links and cultural and linguistic transformations has led to clashes between old and new approaches in the region. The old relations erected by imperial domination were challenged by internal and external forces. In order to cope with the emerging scenario, with few exceptions, the countries of Eastern Europe looked west, while countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus found themselves in a dilemma of whether to maintain old relations with Russia — without a formal command system in place — or look westwards to realise their potentials. These changes have impacted politics of the emerging nation-states in various ways in terms of revival of irredentist claims over territory, clashes of identities and conflicts over resources, with spill-over effects in the surrounding regions and beyond.
