Regional Security Governance in Post-Soviet Eurasia : The History and Effectiveness of the Collective Security Treaty Organization

This book explores post-Soviet Eurasian regional security governance, as embedded in the military alliance of Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). CSTO was established in 2002 and consists of six post-Soviet countries: Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Moving studies of regional security governance beyond the so-called Eurocentrism trend expressed , inter alia , via the focus on Western military alliance, such as NATO, this book examines CSTO as a new, post-Soviet form of regional security cooperation by looking at the reasons and drivers behind the establishment of the post-Soviet Eurasian security governance; the organization's institutional design; the military capabilities of its member states; the degree of the members' integration within the alliance; the cooperation pattern adopted by CSTO members; as well as the effect and effectiveness of this military alliance. Contents 5 Acronyms 6 List of Figures 9 1 “The Major Geopolitical Disaster” as the Prerequisite for the Post-soviet Regional Security Governance 12 The Book’s Structure 18 References 19 2 Theoretical Approaches to Patterns of Military Cooperation and Alliances 23 Neorealism 23 Liberal Theory 27 Constructivism 31 Rational Choice Theory of Institutionalism 34 Cooperation Problems and Patterns of Cooperation 39 References 43 3 Post-Soviet Eurasia—The Region’s Definition and History of the Post-Soviet Regional Governance 47 What is the Post-Soviet Eurasia? Definition of the Region 48 The Post-Soviet Regional Governance—Historical Insight 52 The Commonwealth of Independent States 54 The Eurasian Economic Union 65 References 77 4 Post-Soviet Reality and the Emergence of CSTO: Reasons and History of the Military Alliance Formation 83 The Collapse of USSR and the Search of a New Format of Military Cooperation 83 The Formation of CSTO 89 References 95 5 Institutional Design of CSTO 99 Membership 101 Scope 103 Rights and Obligations of the Members 104 Organization Structure and Control 106 Centralization 110 References 115 6 The Military Capabilities of the CSTO Members-States 119 Parameters of Military Power 120 Size of Armed Forces 123 Size of Military Expenditure 124 Armenia 125 Size of the Armed Forces 125 Size of Military Expenditure 128 Kyrgyzstan 130 Size of the National Military 130 Size of Military Expenditure 133 Tajikistan 134 Size of the Armed Forces 134 Size of Military Expenditure 137 Belarus 139 Size of the Armed Forces 139 Size of Military Expenditure 142 Kazakhstan 145 Size of the National Military 145 Size of Military Expenditure 148 Russia 150 Size of the Armed Forces 150 Size of Military Expenditure 153 References 156 7 The Effect and Effectiveness of CSTO 163 Effectiveness 163 Armenia–Azerbaijani Conflict 164 NATO Expansion and American Military Presence 171 Allies (Un)Support of Russia’s Political-Military Activity 176 Discussing the CSTO Cooperation Pattern 179 Effect 185 References 187 8 Regional Security Governance in Post-Soviet Eurasia—Summary and Conclusions 194 Possible Directions for Further Research 201 References 202 Index 203