Populist Strategic Alliances: Patterns of Collaboration in Post-Soviet States

Regional organisations in the Former Soviet Space have been often understood as conservationist alignments, in terms of protective integration or emerging authoritarian international cartel. Drawing on different scholarships about the "international determinants" of domestic politics, this paper aims to analyse the populist drifts occurred in some of the former Soviet countries. After the dismantlement of the communist bloc, the literature on transition(s) has cautioned about the dangers of charismatic and plebiscitary forms of populisms, wherein various “anti-isms” cohabitate. Thus, our paper deals with the interpretation of Eurasian regionalism(s) as a tool of political solidarity and collective legitimation among regimes with “populist” forms of government, through the development of an anti-Western rhetoric based on the rejection of liberal models. The paper will investigate both the "demand factors" (i.e. the drivers of an alleged "populist internationale") and the "supply elements" conveying processes of convergence and diffusion of typically populist policies.