GEOPOLITICAL POSITION OF THE BALTIC SEA REGION

Abstract

Abstract. After the end of the «cold war» the Baltic Sea region has experienced significant
geopolitical changes. As a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the three Baltic republics
– Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – gained their independence. Russia's influence in the region
became much lower compared to the role played by the Soviet Union. In the first half of the
1990s the Baltic countries and Poland declared a foreign policy course towards joining the EU
and NATO and in the beginning of the XXIst century the four post-socialist countries achieved
this strategic goal. In Sweden and Finland the 1990s and early twenty-first century was a period
of gradual withdrawal from the policy of neutrality and rethinking their role in the Baltic
Sea region. The end of the «cold war» has stimulated new processes of development and deepening
of regional cooperation, particularly between the eastern and western parts of the Baltic
Sea region. The paper considers the modern geopolitical position of the Baltic Sea region in
historical retrospective. The author uses the method of geopolitical analysis, which allows,
firstly, finding out some regularities in the historical development of international relations in
the Baltic Sea region and in the policies of regional states and, secondly, determining the influence
of geographic factors on international political processes in the defined region. The geographical
proximity, the importance of the Baltic Sea as a transport route for the most of the
countries of the region is a factor of interdependence. In terms of the changed geopolitical configuration
of the region, many states today are understanding and modeling their new geopolitical
role.
Key words: Baltic Sea region, Scandinavia, geopolitical position, the concept of regional development,
transport route, conflict, cooperation.