Reintegration practices in Post-Soviet states

Abstract

This paper uses, as its starting point, the argument that integration presupposes reciprocity. On the basis of secondary qualitative data analysis, the paper examines reintegration practices in post-Soviet countries where the State is said to be a weak provider of integration. The purpose is to explore inter-regional differences and major critical issues in existing reintegration practices. To achieve this, the paper looks at the expectations to integration held by the European Commission, evaluates the reintegration practices in the former Soviet Union against the EU standards, and makes intra-regional comparisons based on the EU standards. Placing Georgia and Ukraine at the low extreme across the reintegration continuum, the constructed Reintegration Barometer locates the best reintegration country of Armenia halfway far from the theoretical/utopian ideal of the European Union.