| Recently, economic interests have taken center stage to bring about integration, espousing cultural homogeneity, collaboration of human and natural resources, and, when necessary for social cohesion, even ideological inspiration. Consequently developed and developing regions of the world are integrating at a fast pace.;National boundaries have entrapped societies in units too small for economic self-sufficiency and political viability. The inadequacy of nationalism in resolving economic problems that require a larger operational territory, the ideological bankruptcy of capitalism in harmonizing international relations for sustainable development, and the failure of communism in creating a prosperous society has prompted a search for new alternatives. Islam provides an alternative for the Muslim nations stranded on the highway of economic and political development. However, the lack of a well-defined economic system and absence of a modern political model are compensated with the commonality of history, culture, economic interests, and mass appeal to ride the wave of integration-oriented populism.;The economic and political integration of Central and Southwest Asia in the context of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), is therefore not only a necessary outcome of the fall of the Soviet Union, but an economic union established in the right place and at the right time.;This research attempts to analyze the ECO and the factors affecting its survival; including political legitimacy, absence of credible political institutions, slow pace of reform, lingering legacies of authoritarianism, and unbridled nationalism in a region of ethno-linguistic mosaic and political volatility. Posing serious challenges to the ECO's survival are Russia's traditional insecurity, power, and proximity, on the one hand, and the West's economic interests in the rapidly cohering region on the other.;Through effective utilization of the region's natural resources, the diversification of agricultural production, reclamation of land, water, energy, and mineral resources to sustain balanced economic growth, and the extraction, production, processing, manufacturing, and distribution of immense natural resources the ECO can achieve economic self-sufficiency, and political stability. In the final analysis, the future of Central and Southwest Asia and the ECO will be decided by the deeds of the actors, not the words of the analysts. |
