Baltic Sea region: caught between cooperation and integration

1
Baltic Sea region caught between cooperation and
integration

• Toms Rostoks
• University of Latvia
• toms.rostoks_at_lu.lv

2
BSR past, present and future

• Yesterday successful regional cooperation
• Today uncertainty and frustration
• Tomorrow integrated and coherent region

3
EUs Baltic Sea strategy

• The Baltic Sea strategy is a unique attempt to
  facilitate change in one the EUs regions
• Strategys broad priorities are welfare,
  environment, security, competitiveness, (energy?)
  
• Question
• ?Is the Baltic Sea strategy about regional
  cooperation or regional integration?

4
EUs Baltic Sea strategy

• Proposals concerning regional integration vs
  cooperation
• Deeper integration and the sustainable
  development of the Baltic Sea region...
• We should work towards increasing the level of
  ambition in different fields, aiming for a deeper
  integration.
• ?The idea of the EU strategy for the Baltic Sea
  region is about deepening integration.

5
Who should participate?

• The scope of the Strategy should be EU
  internal.
• Question
• ?What place for Russia in preparation and
  implementation of the Strategy?

6
Integration and its preconditions

• Integration requires certain initial
  preconditions (Haas Schmitter)
• ?Cultural similarities
• ?Amount of transactions
• ?Pluralist democracies
• ?Compatibility of elite groups

7
Integration and its preconditions

• Integration has certain provisions with regard to
  the process (Haas Schmitter)
• ?Causes of government action
• ?Actors interested in continuation of integration
  process
• ?Style of decision-making
• ?Increasing speed of transactions
• ?Capacity of governmental and nongovernmental
  actors to adapt to changing conditions

8
Integration unlikely to happen if

• Cultures not similar
• Transactions subject to voluntary disruptions
• Participants not pluralist democracies
• Elite groups not compatible
• Causes for government action not similar
• Actors not interested in continuation of
  integration process
• Different styles of decision-making
• Actors unable to adapt to changing conditions
• Actors worried about their sovereignty

9
Integration vs Cooperation

• Tentative conclusion 1 Regional integration and
  regional cooperation frameworks should be kept
  separate (but interrelated).
• Tentative conclusion 2 BSR integration unlikely
  to be successful with Russia as a full-fledged
  participant.