The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), established more than two decades ago, is one of the most important international organizations in the non-western world. While attracting the interest of many players in the region, the SCO is still searching for direction, creating new formats, and signing new documents. This process is especially relevant in the current, rapidly changing geopolitical environment, which requires meaningful answers to key issues of security, economy, development of scientific and social spheres, and so on.

In this article, the authors identify the key areas of development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, highlighting the most elaborated security track, the bloc of economic development, projects to strengthen cooperation in the field of energy resources, and issues of scientific and social development, as well as the role of the organization in the formation of the framework of Greater Eurasia. Having analyzed the SCO's activities on the basis of the documents it has adopted and the organizations created within its structure, as well as the narrative at the level of experts and government officials, the authors conclude that, while the SCO has a significant potential in the areas under consideration and has even achieved certain successes in some areas, such as joint security, the organization lacks quality implementation of the documents it has adopted and coherence in the joint implementation of its decisions. Despite this, the SCO has nevertheless become an important element of interaction between the bloc's countries and a key a tool for preserving security in Eurasia.

This article was submitted 17.08.2023

The study was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (Project No. 23-28-01830).