International experts assess the components of the Baltic security puzzle by placing the security and political interests of the states of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania within the historical, economic, and political narratives of the greater Baltic region. They first reevaluate Baltic history as a progression of conflict, partial integration, Cold War division, up to today’s efforts to build a security community. Next, they focus on economic and social relations by contrasting patterns of democratization, domestic politics, EU membership, and the economics of crime. Lastly, they analyze military security and evolving regional perceptions of threats as well as the dynamics of alliance behavior and the recent geostrategic clashes unearthed by Russia’s behavior in Ukraine.

The Challenge to NATO is a concise review of NATO, its relationship with the United States, and its implications for global security.

What is power and how is it effective? This volume responds to these questions in terms of regional international relations with a particular focus on the Baltic Sea region, an area still charged with a residue of Cold War conflict and power disparity, in a setting of new cooperative ventures. Each contributor examines the region from a different angle and discusses how its actors coped with the new situation facing them after 1991. The volume looks at how governments have defined their new circumstances, how they have dealt with the opportunity to shift to a new mode of coexistence and collaboration, and how they have tackled the challenge of peacefully converting their region to a security community. The book breaks with tradition by adopting a new, thematic approach based on regional issues and functions rather than a country-by-country discourse. It will be of critical value to readers interested in security studies and European politics.

Frank Möller explores why the states and societies of the Baltic Sea region have not yet evolved into a security community despite the area undergoing, since the mid 1980s, considerable change with little turmoil. This book focuses on the tensions resulting from policies in the Baltic states aiming at an increase in both security and sovereignty. Möller shows how these states’ attempts at increasing their security were intricately bound up with their efforts at autonomous nation-state building. Möller argues that a primary obstacle to security community building was the construction of nation-states based upon an exceedingly traditional template emphasizing the connection between the state, sovereignty, and military security. The Baltic states aspired to NATO membership amid unique challenges, such as the perceived threat of renascent Russian imperialism and the perseverance of a collective memory emphasizing anti-Soviet resistance. Möller also examines such key issues as the demise of the Soviet Union, the nonviolent withdrawal of Russian troops from the Baltic states, and U.S. foreign policy in northern Europe. Here is a profound, multifaceted look at issues of security in the contemporary world- a crucial tool for researchers and students of peace and conflict studies.

NATO's Eastern agenda faces several challenges, including consolidating the democratic transitions in Central and Eastern Europe, ensuring the security of the Baltic states, developing a post-NATO-enlargement strategy for Ukraine, deepening the Russia-NATO partnership, and engaging the Caucasus and Central Asia. The author also considers NATO's broader transformation.

This volume analyzes the Nordic and Baltic states' relationship with the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). Clive Archer presents a general background to the European Union's ESDP, the strategic situation of Northern Europe, the main security and defence policy issues faced by the states there, as well as outlining the main theoretical considerations concerning security in the region. Key chapters cover the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and the four Nordic states of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The selected contributors provide an analysis of the region as seen from Brussels and of the practical and theoretical issues arising from the study. This new text tackles an aspect of the ESDP that has previously received little attention, and reinvigorates old ground, blending together analytical, theoretical and policy-relevant approaches. New Security Issues in Northern Europe will be a welcome addition to all those with an interest in security studies, European politics and international relations.

This book analyses recent Russian-European interaction, including Russia’s relations with the Baltic States; it discusses the development of Russia’s approach to the new security architecture in Europe resulting from the enlargement of both the EU and NATO, and assesses the prospects for greater Russian engagement in European security frameworks.