Book Review: The Dawn of Eurasia: On the trail of the new world order, by Bruno Macaeas

Abstract

The idea of Eurasia is reemerging as the main focus in contemporary politics, and certainly, Bruno Macaeas has become one of the first writers to predict it in recent times. He also shows how both China and Russia are seeing and engaging with Eurasia with the Belt and Road Initiative and Eurasian Economic Union respectively. On the other hand, he says that the EU’s idea towards Eurasia as many of the threats the union is facing today has been indirectly the result of breaking up of the firm border of Asia and Europe. The book explores the idea of an emergent Eurasia. Bruno Macaeas believes that the Eurasian region will re-emerge as the most important factor leaving the American and the Asians in the 21 century. He also exerts on the interplay among China, Russia, and the European Union. This according to him is a simple return to the history; he mentions that “Eurasia happens to be the largest landmass on earth, the place where most of the great civilizations of human history were developed.” He says that “As Europe disappears, Eurasia coheres” (Pg 9). The author gives an example of the spectacular rise of Singapore and Hong Kong. In the book, the author uses the termEurasia to denotemuchmore than the geographical entity. The book is divided into two parts. In the first part, “The Map,” the author explains the origins of the divide between Europe and Asia and what are the factors that are helping to collapse that divide. This part puts forward how a new world order, Eurasian, is taking shape on the ruins of the old order. The second part of the book, “The Journey,” is the travelogue of the author. The part introduces the readers with minute and lesserknown details about the region. He mentions his observations while traveling in the Xinjiang region of China that, “it is difficult to see how China will be able to solve the contradiction between the desire to facilitate trade and movement while closing borders and subjecting everyone to permanent surveillance.” The first part has three chapters. The first chapter of the book tries to explain how the borders of the two continents, Asia and Europe, were defined historically. The authors say that now it is easier to trace the border as it is getting diminished. The chapter concludes an attempt of finding Eurasia in history. While the second chapter explains the present events which often show contradictory views on an issue, the third chapter looks the new Eurasian continent using three players, where the author sees Russia oscillating between Asia and Europe. The second part which has six chapters provides support to author’s argument in the previous part by the help of his travel accounts. The author started his journey from theCaucasus, then traveled to Armenia and Iran, and covered the parts of Central Asia, China, and Russia. The fourth chapter of the book starts the travel details of author. The travel starts with Azerbaijan. In the chapter, the author uses the conversation to show what people think about their location as well as the pipeline projects in the region. The next chapter gives the account of China and Russia in which author also gives the account of a Russian diplomat who expresses concern onChinese presence in Central Asia. The seventh chapter narrates author’s experiences in east Russia and gives even the minute details like those of Kalmyks. In the epilogue, the author describes the present events which happened when he was writing the book like the Brexit and the coming of Trumpwhich he finds are the result of the rise of global powers in Asia. In this book, the author has presented both his experience in the government and a powerful and informative travelogue which helps the reader in understanding both the governmental and grassroots issues and responses.