ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes the categorization of regional initiatives and reviews the existing literature to 'collect' claims about their formation and failure. It shows the preliminary weighting of explanatory factors to identify more and less plausible explanations. The chapter explains that the Soviet successor states have been very active in forming and participating in regional integration schemes during the last 20 years. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is associated with the requirement of responding to a double transition; following this logic, it is possible to speak of success as failure, arguing that the CIS was no longer needed after completing the transition. Furthermore, most security threats in post-Soviet Eurasia were transnational. Dynamics such as religious extremism, terrorism, criminal networks, or social tensions and civil war in Afghanistan and Tajikistan have propelled Russian-led security integration. Similar to economic integration, Russian-centered security frameworks such as Collective Security Treaty (CST) and Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) were driven by bandwagoning considerations.
