Putin’s War and the Re-Opening of History

This book explores the emerging politics of Eurasia from the vantage point of Kazakhstan. Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022 has led to the end of the post-Cold War paradigm of liberal convergence and has triggered a geopolitical shift that will lead to the establishment of a renewed bipolar world order. However, if Russia is responsible for that shift, it will most likely not be the power that will be the leading force of the anti-Western bloc. The leading force of this emerging bloc will rather be China to which Russia is inevitably destined to be relegated as a junior partner in Beijing’s geopolitical orbit. This book, analyzing the geopolitics of a changing region, will interest scholars of international relations, Eurasia, and the economics of energy.Jean-François Caron is Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Nazarbayev University.