In the wake of globalisation, governments have started to see relative advantage in associating with other countries, and also possible negative consequences in staying outside preferential trade arrangements. Many times a decision to join an economic organisation is made because staying outside will be with time more costly. It can be assumed that countries that rely to a very high extent on special export sectors or export partners are hit relatively harder when they are forced to stay outside a free trade area or a customs union. For the exporter, this is because it might be difficult to find alternative markets to sell to or to restructure the country's export composition . Such countries are also very vulnerable to economic blackmailing because sanctions can be addressed to small but crucial sectors.
When on 15th of October 2008 Russia officially announced a decision to reform its armed forces some observers were very fast to claim this as a new adventurist's move of Russian political and military leadership. Almost nobody took it seriously. Today the situation is different with more and more specialists and officials pointing at the Russian army and recognising it as an emerging threat. How did this happen that we became caught in surprise again? Why did nobody pay any attention to what was going on in the Russian Army, or if somebody did, why nobody took them seriously. Those and other questions still remain to be answered.