The European sea: Lessons from the Baltic Sea region for security and cooperation in the European neighborhood

Abstract

This study aims to assess the development of regional cooperation in the Baltic Sea area through an analysis of regional security interdependence, and to develop the lessons of this regional experience for application to the wider European framework of security and cooperation. The analysis of Baltic Sea regional security and cooperation is divided into three phases: the first looks at 1989 to the early 1990s; the second covers the period from the early 1990s to the enlargements in 2004; and the third lays out a scenario for the post-enlargement period. Subsequently, I discuss what this regional experience might be able to offer to Europe. Here, attention is given to the EU's relations with its neighbors, with particular reference to Russia.     

Book reviews

Abstract

This article is a case study of Kaliningrad's political elite's attempts to make Kaliningrad the ‘Baltic Republic within the Russian Federation’, and the fact that this regional programme was perceived by observers from Moscow and neighbours as leading to the creation of the ‘Fourth Baltic Republic’. The geopolitical and historical peculiarities of Kaliningrad, and their impact on Kaliningrad's regional programme, are also discussed. The article will conclude by arguing that although the Baltic Republic slogan is fading, Kaliningrad's ambitions and desire to remain an ‘actor’ are not.     

Nordic-Baltic Interaction in European Union Negotiations: Taking Advantage of Institutionalized Cooperation

Given the long tradition of regional cooperation around the Baltic Sea, one could expect the Nordic-Baltic European Union (EU) members (these countries are known as the NB6; they are Sweden, Demark, Finland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania) to pool power in exerting influence in the EU. By drawing on the empirical evidence from the case studies on the Baltic Sea Strategy, the Stockholm Programme, and the EU climate negotiations, the author explains the mechanisms through which the members of the institutionalized coalition of NB6 interact in pre-negotiation stage in the EU Council, thus enhancing their bargaining power. However, we cannot speak of a permanent regional “bloc” in the EU because of member states’ interest differences.     

Neoliberalism and Academia in Morocco

This article analyses the impact of international aid flows and the process of global market integration in Morocco on the role of academia—meaning research, teaching and intellectual debate conducted largely, but not solely, through publications and conferences—in social and political change. Drawing upon interviews and analysis of secondary sources, the article suggests that international development agencies working in Morocco and national policy strategies to further globalisation have had consequences for academic research and outputs as well as on intellectual debate in general. The first effect is to support the cultivation of an academic elite in the social sciences and humanities whose research agenda is often connected to national and international policy agendas and, likewise, to limit the evolution of a broader-based national or regional academic debate based on independent research. The second is to raise the importance of private higher education, which is focused for the most part on teaching and not on independent research. The impact of both has been to undermine the status of the academic profession and the role of higher education in pushing forward public debate on critical issues beyond programmatic concerns, for instance illiteracy or migration; and to address more fundamental questions, such as adherence to neoliberal policies or the pervasiveness of political and social alienation in Morocco. More importantly, the decline of public higher education has symbolic significance in that it reflects disassociation of the state from supporting a connection between craft, identity and citizenship. Taking into account the consequences of the impoverishment of higher education for training, research and critical analysis, the article ends by calling on aid agencies to regard academic research and public universities as means to reinvigorate public debate and new thinking around national and local development issues.     

The 1972 Memorandum to the United Nations and its repercussions: Émigré politics and Soviet Estonian dissent during the ‘era of stagnation’

The Estonian dissidents’ Memorandum to the United Nations, drafted as a call for national self-determination in 1972, set new standards for the émigré community’s campaigns. Although its political message was initially dismissed as utopian, the subsequently emerging cooperation between émigré and homeland activists via intricate courier networks significantly strengthened the authority of Estonian voices in the West. By the early 1980s, the political alliances across the Iron Curtain eventually bore fruit. The Memorandum’s core demands reappeared in political debates on Baltic issues on both sides of the Atlantic, foreshadowing the massive Western support for the Baltic cause during the Singing Revolutions.     

Political and social networks in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan: ‘clan’, region and beyond

A major debate among scholars studying Central Asian societies concerns the structure of social and political networks in the region. Still unresolved is the issue of whether to define such networks in terms of ‘clans’, ‘regionalism’, or personal networks. This article, based on data collected during fieldwork in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, attempts to understand these social and political networks. It suggests that networks are very complex. The networks in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan draw on various loyalties including ties of family, friendship, work, education, and patron-client relationships. They are neither purely regional nor purely clan-based. Personal networks, factions, and self-interest play important roles. At the elite level, networks more closely resemble patron-client networks, which may or may not include regional or kinship ties. Among ordinary people, such ties tend to be based on localism, kinship, and/or patronage relationships.     

Consolidation as hegemonization: The case of Estonia

Abstract

The shift from the Soviet system to market economies has induced a wide range of changes in the forest sectors of the three Baltic states. The majority of these changes are the result of compromises made between stakeholders participating in forest policymaking and implementation. In this article it is argued that the relative success of the increasingly complex and dynamic environment of forest policy action arenas is ensured by interconnecting policy networks instead of hierarchical governance by the state. We map and characterize forest policy networks in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, while identifying the actors participating in forest policy formation and implementation. The forest policy networks of the Baltic states are compared against each other and with the situation during the last years of the Soviet system.     

The Baltic Sea region in international relations of the twentieth century: The seminal nature of the interwar period

Abstract

The article addresses the idea and problems of political cooperation and integration of the Baltic Sea countries in the twentieth century from the point of view of a small nation. In the interwar period such cooperation between both old and new nations was virtually non-existent. Still, the second half of the 1920s became a sort of prediction of the direction in which the relationships between the small nations on the Baltic might develop when the region was not dominated by imperialist great power policies. The end of the twentieth century in this region differs radically from the first half of the century in both the former and the latter. Yet the developments of today signify the realization of the visions of that period.     

Report on the conference on the Baltic area in World War II

Time and space serve as key identity markers of a nation. This article focuses on the construction of historical space in Estonian history textbooks. The aim of this analysis is to follow the trajectory of post-Soviet understanding of Estonia’s location on the European map. Rejecting the Soviet idea that Estonia belongs to the Russian Civilization, the post-Soviet Estonian national elite has offered the Baltic Sea region as a plausible alternative regional identity. The present analysis suggests that the last two decades are marked by an increasing tendency in Estonian history textbooks to present the Baltic Sea region as the nation’s historical space.     

South Asian Peacekeeping: Regional Possibilities

South Asia contributes the largest contingent of peacekeepers to the United Nations, and yet remains a fragile region in terms of peace within its own borders. This article argues that, although the implications of South Asia’s engagement in global peacekeeping operations has been the subject of academic study, not enough attention has been paid to how South Asian expertise in peacekeeping can be harnessed as a resource for regional cooperation.     

Transition to Upper Secondary School: an Estonian Experience

This is a study of the transition to upper secondary education, an area largely ignored by international educational research. In particular, the study focuses on the transition from compulsory basic education to an academic general upper secondary education in Estonia. This study involves a national survey of school principals as well as case studies. The mixed methods analyses show that a number of barriers can be identified that may have an adverse impact on students’ adjustment to a new learning environment, potentially affecting their educational outcomes and future life-chances. The study places the findings in the context of broader societal processes that have taken place during the last decade in the Baltic countries in general, including Estonia.     

东盟区域经济合作的投资效应研究

在2002年东盟自由贸易区建成之际,学术界用各种指标深入分析了其贸易效应。但东盟发展的目标却是要成为一个具有竞争力的投资区。因而要更好地理解和评价东盟区域经济合作,必须对其直接投资效果也进行分析。本文通过回顾20世纪90年代以来东盟吸收FDI的变化,考察了东盟区域经济合作的直接投资效应,并重点分析了其投资效应不显著的原因在于其对东盟综合区位优势的改善不明显,并没有有效地提高东盟区域整体竞争力。     

The coordination of policy priorities among regional institutions from the Baltic Sea to the Arctic: the institutions – coordination dilemma

We examine the coordination of policy priorities among the Arctic Council, the Barents Euro-Arctic Council, the Council of Baltic Sea States, and the Nordic Council of Ministers. The member states of these groups established these institutions to coordinate their regional cooperation. However, the member states ended up having to coordinate the parallel work of these institutions. This coordination effort influenced their cooperation, creating an institutional coordination dilemma. We analyze how interests, leadership, and identity politics influence this dilemma and how negative, problem-solving, and positive forms of coordination can amend its effects regarding the temporal consistency of policy priorities and their sectoral overlap.     

The Baltic area in east European studies at American universities

Summary

Work in the Baltic area is not easy and will not become so in the near future for the following reasons:

• 1. One has to command a number of languages.

• 2. The number of scholars interested in the Baltic is not great, and they are widely dispersed. Hence, cooperation is impeded.

• 3. A student or scholar must become a Baltic specialist in terms of some other academic discipline.

• 4. Materials needed for studying the Baltic at a distance are scarce and dispersed. Even the best library holdings are not extensive, and existing collections are all too often not catalogued.

There are, however, positive aspects:

• 1. One can go to the area for short-term visits with an idea of gaining insight into the locality and establishing personal contacts with resident scholars.

• 2. Funds, while not ample, are no more restricted than in other academic enterprises. In some respects, money is the most available resource.

     

Afghanistan reconstruction in regional perspective

The reconstruction of Afghanistan is in part dependent upon the reintegration of Afghanistan into the international community. Reintegration, in turn, is dependent upon Afghanistan's trans-border infrastructure of communication, trade, transport, water, power and investment. Accordingly, increased regional economic cooperation is a key element of Afghanistan's reconstruction. This article analyses regional economic cooperation in the South and Central Asian region in terms of logic, institutions, actors, and expectations. The article argues in favour of inclusiveness to enlarge the number of beneficiaries of economic benefits of regional economic cooperation while avoiding the pitfalls of risky strategies of faulty collective action.     

能力分配、制度共容性和战略关注度:冷战后亚太多边经贸合作制度构建的成败分析

冷战结束后,亚太地区以经济合作制度为主的各类制度建设迅速发展,并嵌入到地区秩序中,这些制度的发展经历了不同的历程,产生了不同的结果。从制度变迁理论的视角来看,地区制度的发展历程可以分为制度需求、制度构建和制度的维持与深化三个阶段,不同因素在各阶段发挥的作用不同。具体而言,在亚太地区,能力分配、制度共容性和霸权国对地区的战略关注度这三个变量对于地区经贸合作制度构建的成败起到了决定性的影响。文章将后冷战时期的亚太制度变迁分为四个时期,通过考察各个时期内最具代表性的制度来检验上述理论假设。文章认为,当地区内大国力量对比悬殊时,只有同时具备较高的霸权国战略关注度和较强的制度共容性时,地区合作制度的构建才能成功;当地区内力量对比接近时,地区合作的路径会趋于多元化,具备较高的霸权国战略关注度或具有较高共容性的地区合作制度的构建都可以获得成功。因此对于中国而言,在霸权国对地区合作的战略关注度下降和大国力量对比接近时,要推动当前地区经济合作,需要保持战略定力,更多着眼于地区合作中的互利共赢。     

Comparing colonial differences: Baltic literary cultures as agencies of Europe’s internal others

ABSTRACT

The article discusses the Baltic colonial experience in historical and comparative perspective. It sketches the ways in which Baltic societies are best linked to theoretical discussions on postcolonial issues, and whether they might be looked upon in a more global context. The main question posed by the article is in what ways Baltic identity has been determined by processes of foreign settlement, occupation and colonization of the territory of each respective country and whether we can see Baltic societies as potential agencies of Europe’s internal others.     

The role of international regimes in the formation and maintenance of Baltic environmental cooperation

Abstract

Since 1991, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have created a successful cooperative regime in the field of environmental protection. It is built up on international regime-like arrangements, based on bi- or trilateral agreements as well as on commonly accepted behavioural norms and rules. The article argues that such regular cooperation between the three Baltic countries has not sprung from merely their own interests, i.e. from the need to solve the existing problems with transboundary externalities and shared natural resources or to achieve major political goals more efficiently in collaboration than individually. The formation and maintenance of the trilateral cooperation can, to a large extent, be attributed to the influence of normative institutions called international regimes as well as individual members of the international community.     

中俄高等教育合作

中俄教育合作极具战略意义,是中俄人文领域合作行动计划的优先方向。2019年,中俄各类教育方案框架内的学生交流人数达10万人,新冠肺炎疫情暴发后,两国相互间留学的人数变化不大。截至2021年12月,获得教育部批准或者省级教育主管机构批准的中俄合作办学机构有20个,本科层次合作项目70个,专科层次合作项目21个,硕士层次合作项目4个,理工科项目数多于人文社科类,办学层次仍以本科学历教育和专科教育为主。中俄高等教育交流与合作取得了丰富成果,但是还存在着中俄高等教育国际化法规不完善,留学生在各自对外交流总体量中所占比例尚小,缺乏基于学科对接、优势互补的实质性合作等不足。目前,中国迫切需要进一步建立和完善高等教育国际合作法律体系,优化制度、政策环境;高校要树立国际化观念,增强国际化能力;通过与俄罗斯高校的合作促进我国高等教育质量提升;为“一带一路”域内国家培养优质劳动力资源。