Will the increased economic connectivity across the Eurasian supercontinent transform Europe into the western peninsula of Greater Eurasia? The unipolar era entailed the US organising the two other major economic regions of the world, Europe and Asia, under US leadership. The rise of "the rest", primarily Asia with China at the centre, has ended the unipolar era and even 500-years of Western dominance. China and Russia are leading efforts to integrate Europe and Asia into one large region. The Greater Eurasian region is constructed with three categories of economic connectivity - strategic industries built on new and disruptive technologies; physical connectivity with bimodal transportation corridors; and financial connectivity with new development banks, trading currencies and payments systems. China strives for geoeconomic leadership by replacing the US leadership position, while Russia endeavours to reposition itself from the dual periphery of Europe and Asia to the centre of a grand Eurasian geoeconomic constellation. Europe, positioned between the trans-Atlantic region and Greater Eurasia, has to adapt to the new international distribution of power to preserve its strategic autonomy.
Glenn Diesen is Professor at the University of South-Eastern Norway and an Associate Editor at the Russia in Global Affairs Journal.
Professor Diesen's brilliant analysis of developments in the European Union and Eurasia challenges the liberal assumptions that have dominated "mainstream" thinking in the West. It is required reading for those interested in international finance and politics who wish to be prepared for the tectonic shifts in the future political landscape. -- Jack F. Matlock Jr, U.S. Ambassador to the USSR, 1987-1991 Strategic Autonomy remains one of the most mysterious and most abused notions in the European political vocabulary. In his book, Glenn Diesen sets the goal to demystify this notion, articulating both new challenges and new opportunities for Europe within the rapidly changing geopolitical and geoeconomic environment. The book offers a sober, but also an optimistic view on how Europe can preserve both its identity and its subjectivity in the emerging world order. -- Andrey Kortunov, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council Glenn Diesen's new book is yet another brilliant project dedicated to the historical and civilizational roots of the development of the states of Eurasia, with a particular focus on Russia. -- Vladimir Yakunin, Supervisory Board Chairman of the Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute A strikingly original approach to Europe and its place in the world in the context of Russia's turn to the East and the growing power of Eurasia. The political and geoeconomic map of the world is changing, and Diesen is a sure guide to the challenges and strategic options in this new era. -- Richard Sakwa, Professor of Russian and European Politics, University of Kent
