Continuity and Change in the Baltic Sea Region: Comparing Foreign Policies (On the Boundary of Two Worlds, 13)

Continuity and Change in the Baltic Sea Region uncovers the Baltic States’ foreign policy transition from Socialist Republics to EU member-states. Situated between the Russian Federation and Northern Europe, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have had to manoeuvre within an often delicate sub-region. Since independence, the foreign policies of the Baltic States have been dominated by de-Sovietization and European integration. Lying at the crossroads between small state theory and identity politics, this analysis engages with the development of Baltic foreign policies as post-Soviet, small and transitioning states.
The authors argue that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania dictated their early foreign policy agendas based on a process of identity construction and as a response to their regional environment. This process took the Baltic States from East to West in their foreign policy aspirations. Key factors in foreign policy making and implementation are discussed, as well as external factors that shaped Baltic foreign policy agendas. Overall, the book illustrates how continuity and change in the Baltic foreign policies has been shaped by both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ factors. It is a study in the foreign policies of transitioning states and in this regard illuminates a much larger research area beyond its geographic focus.

David J. Galbreath is Lecturer of Politics and International Relations at the University of Aberdeen. He is the author of Nation-building and Minority Politics in Post-Socialist States (Ibidem 2005) and The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (Routledge 2007). He has recent journal publications in Governance, Cooperation and Conflict, Geopolitics, Nationalities Papers and Journal of Baltic Studies.
Ainius Lašas is working on his interdisciplinary Ph.D. at the University of Washington, Seattle. He has journal articles in Journal of European Public Policy and Journal of Baltic Studies.
Jeremy W. Lamoreaux is a doctoral student at the University of Aberdeen researching security between the Baltic States and Russia. He has published in Geopolitics and Journal of Baltic Studies, and is co-author with Luca Ratti of a forthcoming book chapter entitled “Post-Cold War Security and Defence in ‘Old’ and ‘New’ Europe” in Defence Politics: International and Comparative Perspectives (Routledge, London).