9781422283905

I NTRODUCTION S OCIAL P ROGRESS IN E URASIA

Eurasia Today I n geographic terms, Eurasia has been defined as the area that makes up both the continents of Europe and Asia. In this volume, Eurasia is defined as Russia, Eastern European countries that have been associated with Russia, and Turkey, which geographically straddles both continents. In this region, Russia dominates. Russia is the biggest country in the world, and it also has one of the largest economies. The main religion in Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, and Ukraine is Christianity. The Muslim religion predominates in Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Turkey. Most of these countries have been more aligned with Eastern Europe than Western Europe, and a distinguishing factor for these countries is that they are all not in the European Union. The alliances, however, have been changing over the years. A few countries—Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Turkey— are potential candidates for the European Union. At the end of May 2014, the leaders of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan signed a treaty establishing their own regional trading bloc called the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Other members include Armenia, Belarus, and Kyrgyzstan. The EEU sees potential to enlarge with Georgia, Moldova, and Tajikistan, as well as Iran, Syria, and Turkey. Ukraine is also possible, but the recent conflict between Russia and Ukraine may have dimmed those prospects.

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S OCIAL P ROGRESS IN E URASIA