Identity and Foreign Policy

Baltic-Russian Relations and European Integration

Eiki Berg, Piret Ehin

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9780754673293
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317119104
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: European Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Baltic-Russian relations have been complicated and tense since the collapse of the USSR and the restoration of Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian independence. Although Baltic accession to the European Union (EU) has created a new international context for interstate relations in the region, enlargement did not bring about the much hoped for improvement in Baltic-Russian relations. This case-study-rich volume examines links between identity, memory politics and foreign policy. It analyzes and explains developments in Baltic-Russian relations after both NATO and EU enlargement, focusing on the incompatibility of Baltic and Russian post-Soviet national identity constructions and the manifestations of this underlying antagonism in bilateral relations and on the broader European and international arena. Built on the constructivist perspective in international relations, this volume provides a coherent and illuminating account of the dynamics of Baltic-Russian relations after NATO and EU enlargement. Combining policy-relevant analysis with theoretical insights, it will meet the needs of academics and students of foreign policy, EU external relations and international relations more generally.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Incompatible Identities? Baltic-Russian Relations and the EU as an Arena for Identity Conflict
• 2 Imperial Legacy and the Russian-Baltic Relations: From Conflicting Historical Narratives to a Foreign Policy Confrontation?
• 3 Commemorating 9 May: The Baltic States and European Memory Politics
• 4 Identity Politics and Contested Histories in Divided Societies: The Case of Estonian War Monuments
• 5 Liminality and Contested Europeanness: Conflicting Memory Politics in the Baltic Space
• 6 The “Return of History” or Technocratic Administration? The Effects of Depoliticization in Estonian-Russian Relations
• 7 Entrapment in the Discourse of Danger? Latvian-Russian Interaction in the Context of European Integration
• 8 Neighbourhood Politics of Baltic States: Between the EU and Russia
• 9 In and Out of Europe: Identity Politics in Russian-European Relations
• 10 Contextualizing and Qualifying Identities: Baltic-Russian Relations in the Context of European Integration
• Bibliography
• Index