BalticStudyNet aims to encourage research on the Baltic Sea Region from what might be called an inter-regional perspective. How does the region look like when seen, for instance, from as far away as Canada or Peru? Is it meaningful to analyse and compare the Baltic Sea Region with other transnational and/or sea regions? It is questions like these that will be central features of the working paper series.

BalticStudyNet invites graduate students and researchers worldwide to contribute to this working paper series by submitting draft essays on issues relevant to the overall theme - The Baltic Sea Region in a global context.

1/2006
Jan-Mark vanderLeest, Carleton University, Canada Region, Regionalism and Identity in Canada and the Baltic Sea Region

Abstract

The following essay is the result of a question posed to students of an International Summer School in Baltic Sea Region Studies, Mare Europaeum, coordinated through the BalticStudyNet from 23 July to 6 August 2006 - "How would you explain the Baltic Sea Region in your country?" The paper therefore reflects my point of view as a Canadian participant. Rather than a straight-forward empirical paper, analysis will also expand upon theoretical approaches to the terms region, regionalism and identity.

2/2006
Aldo Fernando Ponce, University of Connecticut, USA Determinants of Success in the Integration at the Sub-regional Level
A Comparative Study between the Andean Community and the Baltic Sea Region

Abstract

This paper sheds light on the determinants that can explain the differences in the outcomes among processes of integration at the sub-regional level. For this purpose, I compare two different sub-regions facing processes of integration: the Andean Community and the Baltic Sea Region. These cases represent extreme cases of success and failure. To simplify the analysis, the evaluation of the degree of success of these outcomes is measured by the levels of cooperation and integration among the participating countries of the bloc in four political or economic aspects: flows of trade within the region, flows of investment within the region, the implementation of relevant projects at the sub-regional level, and the achievements of the sub-regional institutions. I find that on one hand, the integration process of the Baltic Sea Region has been one of the most successful in its category. On the other hand, the integration in the Andean Region has produced poor results despite its longer duration. How can these different outcomes be understood and explained? I find that the main determinants to explain these differences were: (1) the level of institutional development of the macro-region to which each sub-region belongs (the European Union versus the Organization of American States), (2) the quality of democracy of the countries forming the sub-regional bloc, (3) the level of economic integration of the economic regions to which each sub-region belongs (freedom for trading within the European Union versus freedom for trading within the Free Trade Area of the Americas), and (4) total economic size of the sub-regions and national trade policies.

3/2006
Malini Bhattacharjee
Introducing the Baltic Sea Region to South Asia

Abstract

This paper has primarily three purposes: To provide a brief introduction of the Baltic Sea Region, in terms of its history, identity, culture, politics and economy; to make a comparative study between the Baltic Sea Region and the South Asian region, particularly the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and to examine if there is any possibility of the South Asian region to grow on the lines of the Baltic Sea region.

4/2006
Stela Garaz, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
Determining and Explaining the Differences in Governmental Policies towards the Ethnic Minorities in the Baltic States and Moldova

Introduction

After the collapse of the Soviet Union most of the newly independent states had to proceed towards establishing new institutional settings and towards promoting new policies by keeping in mind the ethnic diversity of their population that, besides other things, constituted one of the communist regime legacies. The republics had to face their multi-ethnicity in order to avoid the possibility of inter-ethnic clashes and to preserve political stability. Therefore the central governments had to decide on the appropriate policies towards the accommodation of ethnic minorities, taking into consideration diverse internal circumstances and regional geopolitical tendencies. A general look at the whole post Soviet space reveals a rather diverse range of policies and policy changes towards the ethnic minorities, which shows that the common Soviet legacy has not been the strongest determinant for the consequent establishment of the minority-majority relations in the newly independent states.

5/2006
Anton Kotenko
Baltic Sea Reagion - myth or reality?

Introduction

This work does not aim to present the best possible definition of the Baltic Sea Region (BSR). It is also not going to break up the 'fairytale of the BSR'. Restating Shinohara (1997, 30) the question here is not whether the BSR is vision or reality. It is a vision and at the same time, or perhaps because of this, it is a reality. This paper focuses on what is the Baltic Sea Region and how does it function in reality? The last fifteen years brought wide popularity to the concept of 'mental mapping' among intellectuals. Since the works by Tolman (1948), Downs and Stea (1977), and especially after Said (1979), historians have started to study different discursive practices, which aimed to create various schemes of geographical areas providing them with the fixed characteristics, including notions of 'imagined' or 'invented' into the titles of their books. The concept of the Baltic Sea Region is the typical example of such a construct of 'imagined community', having slowly taken root in general usage of intellectuals in the last years, without being exactly defined.