Stefan Meister

This research and book project will investigate the end of Russian hegemony in the post-Soviet region as a result of the Russian large-scale war against Ukraine. This war has accelerated the decline of the Russian regional and global positioning, and will lead to new regional orders in Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia. Because of the focus on the war against Ukraine, Russia is lacking the resources to be the key security actor in its post-Soviet neighborhoods. In terms of its economic, technological, and demographic competitiveness it is a country in decline. This is a crucial trend for the European security order as well as the competition between authoritarian and democratic norm setting. We see with China, Turkey, Iran but also the EU other actors becoming more active in these regions. New regional orders are in the making which will lead to more regional instability, transactionalism as well as changing coalitions.