Abstract
<jats:p>This paper aims to reassess the complex landscape of Kyrgyzstan's participation in regional and global economic integration from the theoretical perspective of International Political Economy (IPE). By employing the analytical frameworks of "asymmetrical interdependence" and "core-periphery" dynamics, this paper argues that Kyrgyzstan’s integration process is, in essence, a survival and development strategy for a small, landlocked, peripheral economy operating under severe geopolitical constraints. The assessment indicates that through accession to the WTO and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Kyrgyzstan has achieved critical successes in institutional alignment, market access expansion, and labor mobility. These have underpinned basic economic stability. However, the geopolitical upheaval post-2022 has exposed and intensified inherent structural bottlenecks: the rigidity of trade deficits and monocultural export structure; the erosion of fiscal sovereignty; political bargaining behind non-tariff barriers; dependence on singular infrastructure "hard connectivity"; and the risk of "deindustrialization" for domestic industries facing zero-tariff competition. Notably, international sanctions following the Russia-Ukraine conflict have introduced novel challenges such as "secondary sanctions risk." The paper concludes that Kyrgyzstan must facilitate a strategic shift from passive "shallow integration" to proactive "deep integration." The core of this reorientation lies in enhancing state capacity through internal governance reforms and targeted industrial policy, coupled with the pursuit of geo-economic rebalancing centered on "connectivity diversification," to construct a more resilient development model amidst multiple dependencies.</jats:p>