A Baltic Sea region?

Since the late 1980s, change has been the hallmark of developments in the Baltic Sea region. This constant and dynamic evolution may well herald a far-reaching process of integration and bridge-building with few equivalents elsewhere in the world, closing old divides between East and West in European history and identity. Is there then such a thing as a Baltic Sea region?

American political scientist Oran Young claims that "regions should be endowed with political dynamics of their own, driven by distinctive agendas, patterns of interaction and governed by specific codes of conduct or regimes." One may add that they may be based on identification, institutionalism or functionalism, and regionalisation is driven by subjective factors such as history, culture and identity, or by objective factors such as geography, geo-economics and geopolitics.

Today, the states around the Baltic Sea are well underway towards regionalisation. The Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) forms the nucleus of far-reaching co-operation and networking between official and private actors, in various states of the region, addressing a wide array of issues. Enlargements of the European Union and NATO may extend a regional agenda emanating from Baltic Sea institutions and co-operation. Commonality in history, culture, and identity is reclaiming its role as a social construct in the making of the Baltic Sea region.
A common heritage also lays claim to broader definitions of a region, transcending current borders and limitations. One may therefore claim that the Baltic Sea either already constitutes a region or is a region in the making.

The “Baltic Sea States” web directory for the Baltic Sea region and Eastern Europe aims to present students, researchers, professionals and an interested public with a tool for seeking and obtaining relevant sources and information on past and present developments in what may broadly be defined as the Baltic Sea region. The directory forms a database divided into country and subject sections in order to present an orderly and structured pathway for seeking further information on most aspects of society. Any link directory runs the risk of becoming but a transient and anomalous phenomenon on the web. To avoid this, “Baltic Sea States” is regularly updated and revised both to remove the obsolete and to cover new developments. However, covering a region with some 150 million people, 12 countries and at least as many languages, is by no means an easy task to carry out single-handedly. Users are therefore most welcome to contribute with information, knowledge, and comments in order to improve the directory. Finally, I hope that you will enjoy using “Baltic Sea States” and that it may facilitate seeking and providing you with information on the Baltic Sea region and Eastern Europe.

Vilhelm Konnander

Editor in Chief