ABSTRACT
In Chapter 4, the reader’s attention is directed to two multilateral initiatives, respectively conducted through the Evraziiskii Soyuz (Eurasian Union—EAS) and the Evraziiskoe Ekonomicheskoe Soobshchestvo (Eurasian Economic Community—EvrAzES). By opening the investigation of one of the book’s most critical strands, namely that which delves into the evolution of Kazakhstan’s standing in former Soviet Eurasia, the chapter articulates a comprehensive explanation for a specific process: the progressive narrowing of the focus of Kazakhstani-led integration. In this context, Chapter 4 details how Nazarbaev went from boasting about the creation of a multi-layered multilateral organisation in the former Soviet Union (1994) to reluctantly marking, in 2014, the establishment of a barely functioning economic union, with a membership that, beyond Kazakhstan, initially involved only Belarus and the Russian Federation.
