Regions have increasingly broken ground in the European sphere. For decades, they have been subject to forces both influencing them from above (regionalisation), as well as from below (regionalism). In the European Union, the regions and their actors have mainly manifested themselves via EU Regional Policy. Besides a closer look at the rationales behind this trend (e.g. multi-level governance) and the changes in the decision-making process, three case regions have thoroughly been addressed - Latvia, Scotland, and Saxony. This dissertation highlights the pitfalls, the possibilities, and the position of regions and its actors, in both the domestic and the European setting, in a clear and structured way. Dissertation. (Series: European Regions / Regionen in Europa - Vol. 4)

Western military presence wanes in Afghanistan and a transformed security environment challenges borders and stability in Central Asia. This book examines how the tensions relating to the reorganization of external military presence interact with regional states’ ambitions and challenge the borders already contested by numerous dividing lines. It studies a complex political landscape across which radical Islam connected with international terrorism is feared to spread as the international mission initiated in the wake of the 9/11 attacks winds down.

Combining statistical and qualitative analysis, including numerous case studies, this text explains why political parties have failed to take hold in Russia's regions. The author's argument is bolstered by a database of regional elections held between 1993-2003.

This book adopts a novel analytical approach to understanding how Russia's stalled democratisation is related to the incomplete liberalisation of the economy. Based on extensive original comparative study of Russia’s regions, the book explores the precise channels of interaction that create the mutuality of property rights, entrepreneurship, rule of law, norms of citizenship and liberal democracy. It demonstrates that the extent of democratisation varies across regions, and that this variation is connected to the extent of liberalisation of the economy. Moreover, it argues that the key factor in producing this linkage is the relative prominence of small business owners and their supporters in articulating their interests vis-à-vis regional and local administrations, especially through the institutionalisation of networks and business associations. The book develops its key theses by means of detailed analysis of the experiences of four case study regions. Overall, the book provides a major contribution to understanding the path of democratisation in Russia.

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 dynamics of Northeast Asia have traditionally been considered primarily in military and hard security terms, however relations among the states of Northeast Asia are far more comprehensible when the interactions between economics and security are considered simultaneously. This book examines the conditions under which economics and security interact with each other in mutually shaping ways, and these interactions pose key empirical questions, the answers to which have important lessons for international relations more broadly beyond Northeast Asia.

The Regional Economic Integration: A comparative study of Central Asian and South Asian Regions. This book has been acknowledged as an exhaustive research on Economic Integration between Central Asia and South Asian as well as within the regions. This book has given an idea that both the regions are complementary to each other having a lot of potential in all growing sectors. To harness this potential efficiently both the regions should cooperate with each other. Economic benefits might help in diluting some political problems exiting within the regions. War devastating countries by Economic Integration could yield maximum benefits in the European Union then why not these regions could do so. History is witnessed that these regions enjoy same social and culturalties while engaging in trade activities. Author has made extensive efforts to highlight the benefits of economic integration for development and prosperity of both the regions.