The Baltic Sea Area Studies

The Baltic Sea Area Studies: Northern Dimension of Europe was a joint project of eight universities and colleges around the Baltic Sea region in the years 2000-2004. It was designed as a research training network carried out in the Fifth Framework Programme of the European Communities, within the specific research and technological development programme "Improving the Human Research Potential and the Socio-economic Knowledge Base".

In the project, the interrelationship of the concepts Baltic Sea region and Europe’s Northern Dimension was investigated. The project sought to ascertain the significance of the Baltic Sea region as a cultural, political, and economic factor in the development of a Northern dimension to Europe; it examined how Europe’s Northern Dimension as a concept can influence the development of the Baltic Sea region.

Against this background, the project examined the preconditions and prospects for a further expansion of regional co-operation in the Baltic Sea region. It analysed the influence which the European Union can exert in the political, economic, and cultural realms over aspirations of regional integration, and how nations with different historical experience, economic and social realities as well as different patterns of national identity can contribute to the specific development of the Baltic Sea region.