Thesis (M.A.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 2002. / Thesis advisor(s): David Abenheim, Tjarck Roessler. "AD-A406 029." Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-74). Also available online.

Russia has always been a primary factor in the development of the Baltic States. It is impossible to analyse Baltic security without looking into the processes inside Russia and the prevailing trends vis-a-vis the Baltic States. However, the changes in the Baltic security landscape in the 21st century lack a comprehensive analysis. This thesis seeks to bridge the gap. Two key aims are being pursued in this thesis. The first is to present an analysis of Russia's European agenda under President Vladimir Putin and to examine the place of the Baltic States in this agenda. The second aim is to define Russia-related threats and challengers to the Baltic States, as well as prospects in Russo-Baltic relations. To attain these aims, inter-active approach to international relations, comprising three levels of analysis - the international system, the nation state (domestic level) and the individual (personality) level - has been applied. The neo-realist paradigm of international relations theory, comparative analysis and the Knudsen model, which addresses the peculiarities of relations between great powers and small states, are the methodological framework of the thesis. When analysing the development of Russo-Baltic relations in 1990-2006, this thesis focuses on the evolution of the Baltic States from factors to actors and their chance of shaping Russo-Baltic relations from within the enlarged EU and NATO. It also examines possibilities for more active engagement of Russia in the Baltic region. The thesis concludes with an analysis of perspectives for the Baltic States in countering Russia-related threats and building cooperativer elations with Russia. The author maintains that 'high politics' in Russo-Baltic relations has ended, yet, the tensions do remain in 'low politics'. Russia seeks to retain her political and economic influence in the Baltics by exploiting various tools, primarily economic levers and Baltic dependence upon Russian energy.

The thesis covers the topic of nominal convergence in terms of Maastricht convergence criteria applied to Baltic States, followed by multicriteria analysis of real convergence.

This dissertation takes a step towards providing a better understanding of post-socialist welfare state development from a theoretical as well as an empirical perspective. The overall analytical goal of this thesis has been to critically assess the development of social policies in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania using them as illustrative examples of post-socialist welfare state development in the light of the theories, approaches and typologies that have been developed to study affluent capitalist democracies. The four studies included in this dissertation aspire to a common aim in a number of specific ways. The first study tries to place the ideal-typical welfare state models of the Baltic States within the well-known welfare state typologies. At the same time, it provides a rich overview of the main social security institutions in the three countries by comparing them with each other and with the previous structures of the Soviet period. It examines the social insurance institutions of the Baltic States (old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, short-term benefits, sickness, maternity and parental insurance and family benefits) with respect to conditions of eligibility, replacement rates, financing and contributions. The findings of this study indicate that the Latvian social security system can generally be labelled as a mix of the basic security and corporatist models. The Estonian social security system can generally also be characterised as a mix of the basic security and corporatist models, even if there are some weak elements of the targeted model in it. It appears that the institutional changes developing in the social security system of Lithuania have led to a combination of the basic security and targeted models of the welfare state. Nevertheless, as the example of the three Baltic States shows, there is diversity in how these countries solve problems within the field of social policy. In studying the social security schemes in detail, some common features were found that could be attributed to all three countries. Therefore, the critical analysis of the main social security institutions of the Baltic States in this study gave strong supporting evidence in favour of identifying the post-socialist regime type that is already gaining acceptance within comparative welfare state research. Study Two compares the system of social maintenance and insurance in the Soviet Union, which was in force in the three Baltic countries before their independence, with the currently existing social security systems. The aim of the essay is to highlight the forces that have influenced the transformation of the social policy from its former highly universal, albeit authoritarian, form, to the less universal, social insurance-based systems of present-day Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This study demonstrates that the welfare–economy nexus is not the only important factor in the development of social programs. The results of this analysis revealed that people's attitudes towards distributive justice and the developmental level of civil society also play an important part in shaping social policies. The shift to individualism in people’s mentality and the decline of the labour movement, or, to be more precise, the decline in trade union membership and influence, does nothing to promote the development of social rights in the Baltic countries and hinders the expansion of social policies. The legacy of the past has been another important factor in shaping social programs. It can be concluded that social policy should be studied as if embedded not only in the welfare-economy nexus, but also in the societal, historical and cultural nexus of a given society. Study Three discusses the views of the state elites on family policy within a wider theoretical setting covering family policy and social policy in a broader sense and attempts to expand this analytical framework to include other post-socialist countries. The aim of this essay is to explore the various views of the state elites in the Baltics concerning family policy and, in particular, family benefits as one of the possible explanations for the observed policy differences. The qualitative analyses indicate that the Baltic States differ significantly with regard to the motives behind their family policies. Lithuanian decision-makers seek to reduce poverty among families with children and enhance the parents’ responsibility for bringing up their children. Latvian policy-makers act so as to increase the birth rate and create equal opportunities for children from all families. Estonian policy-makers seek to create equal opportunities for all children and the desire to enhance gender equality is more visible in the case of Estonia in comparison with the other two countries. It is strongly arguable that there is a link between the underlying motives and the kinds of family benefits in a given country. This study, thus, indicates how intimately the attitudes of the state bureaucrats, policy-makers, political elite and researchers shape social policy. It confirms that family policy is a product of the prevailing ideology within a country, while the potential influence of globalisation and Europeanisation is detectable too. The final essay takes into account the opinions of welfare users and examines the performances of the institutionalised family benefits by relying on the recipients’ opinions regarding these benefits. The opinions of the populations as a whole regarding government efforts to help families are compared with those of the welfare users. Various family benefits are evaluated according to the recipients' satisfaction with those benefits as well as the contemporaneous levels of subjective satisfaction with the welfare programs related to the absolute level of expenditure on each program. The findings of this paper indicate that, in Latvia, people experience a lower level of success regarding state-run family insurance institutions, as compared to those in Lithuania and Estonia. This is deemed to be because the cash benefits for families and children in Latvia are, on average, seen as marginally influencing the overall financial situation of the families concerned. In Lithuania and Estonia, the overwhelming majority think that the family benefit systems improve the financial situation of families. It appears that recipients evaluated universal family benefits as less positive than targeted benefits. Some universal benefits negatively influenced the level of general satisfaction with the family benefits system provided in the countries being researched. This study puts forward a discussion about whether universalism is always more legitimate than targeting. In transitional economies, in which resources are highly constrained, some forms of universal benefits could turn out to be very expensive in relative terms, without being seen as useful or legitimate forms of help to families. In sum, by closely examining the different aspects of social policy, this dissertation goes beyond the over-generalisation of Eastern European welfare state development and, instead, takes a more detailed look at what is really going on in these countries through the examples of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. In addition, another important contribution made by this study is that it revives ‘western’ theoretical knowledge through ‘eastern’ empirical evidence and provides the opportunity to expand the theoretical framework for post-socialist societies.

Title: Regional Identity and Regional Differentiation of the Baltic Countries Author: Josef Miškovský Key words: regional identity, regional differentiation, Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania he thesis deals with the regional identity of the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) at different scale levels. The theoretical baselines of the thesis are the dynamic concepts of institutionalization of the regions and their formation, disappearance and restoration. This abstract view on the formation of regional identity is based on theories of social identity and social representation. In the thesis, mainly the "macroidentity" of the Baltic States, i.e. their formation in the space between the European and the Russian spheres and within the superior regions of northern, eastern and central Europe is evaluated. The concepts of these regions and subsequently their influence on the territorial identity of the Baltic States are discussed. The elements of internal identity of individual Baltic States, according to which the Baltic region can be considered a distinctive region within the concept of northeastern Europe, are discussed in later section of the thesis. Attention is also paid to the internal coherence of the Baltic region and the elements that integrate or disintegrate this...

Energy security is currently a favourite topic. It is being talked about in the context of several conflicts in Third World countries that, due to the supply of energy raw materials such as oil and gas, affect the rest of the world. For some states, however, the issue of ensuring energy security is a more vital. Some states, such as the Baltic countries - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, are dependent on supplies of fossil fuels from neighbouring countries. Moreover, up until recently their energy markets have not been liberalized, nor connected to the rest of the Europe. It is a well-known fact that the Russian Federation is the main supplier of these raw materials to them. Therefore, the Baltic states have been trying to reduce the influence of the Russian Federation in the Baltic region since they regained independence 26 years ago. This diploma thesis deals with the analysis of the energy security of all three Baltic countries. The thesis carefully analyses all aspects of their energy sector. It examines the historical development of the region, thanks to which we can understand the influence of the Russian Federation on the Baltics energy sector, as well as the level of international cooperation of the Baltic states with the EU in ensuring energy security. The analysis also focus on the...

This thesis discusses one of the most serious security challenges faced by the Baltic states since regaining their independence. This security challenge is a product of Russia’s assertive foreign policy towards its western neighbours, which has intensified after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. In order to understand the rationale behind the Kremlin’s policy in the region, the thesis aims to analyse how internal and external factors shape the foreign policy of Russia towards the Baltic states. By taking neo-classical realism as its theoretical framework, the thesis uses mixed research methods for collecting data and applies qualitative content analysis to analyse the three main factors that shape Russia’s Baltic policy. The thesis identifies that NATO’s actions in the anarchic international system raise security threats towards Russia. This shapes Putin’s threat perceptions and compels him to react with counteractions, and since the foreign policy in Russia is concentrated mainly in the hands of the president, his perceptions are decisive. Nevertheless, Putin is dependent on Russians’ support and exploits nationalist feelings of the Russian population to pursue his foreign policy. The thesis concludes that the combination of these three factors makes Russia’s foreign policy towards the Baltic states more aggressive.

This thesis defines the formation and consummation of Soviet Bolshevism as another imperialist force rather than its stated objective of freeing the people of the United Soviet Socialist Republics from the clutches of an inequitable elite. Through the policies and objectives of the Soviet government the workers and citizens of Ukraine and the Baltic republics were not liberated or given autonomy over their lives and labor, as Marxist-Leninism would have them believe. I review the Russification efforts found first in the Tsarist Russian Empire and then continued by Soviets in the nature of pursuing or denying cultural, political, and economic self-sufficiency.

No / Baltic Germans who were active on behalf of especially German minorities throughout Europe during the 1920s have already found some recognition in especially German-language studies. Now they are receiving a wider coverage. Two of these men, Werner Hasselblatt and Ewald Ammende, came from Estonia and played a part in the development of the cultural autonomy legislation enacted in 1925. Traditionally this has been counted a positive contribution to the management of Europe's minorities during the inter-war period. During the 1930s at the latest, however, both Hasselblatt and Ammende drifted towards German National Socialism. Through an investigation of the ideas of these men, this paper attempts to interpret lives which helped to create apparently progressive legislation in the 1920s, but which compromised with a dreadful political movement soon afterwards. What were the motives behind their actions?

Globalisation, a major aspect of English foreign language (EFL) education in the twenty-first century, can be described as the worldwide circulation of goods, services, and capital as well as information, ideas, and people. EFL educators encounter relentless demands to shift their positions, perspectives, and identities, and to assume many roles because they must accommodate new cultures and people in order to teach in their chosen field. We also have to accommodate differences in ideologically constructed representations of our roles as educators in terms of culture, class, gender, race, and religion within their various contexts. Thus, it can be difficult to determine exactly what one's role is in the context of globalisation. Using an analytic, auto-ethnographic, and naturalistic research design, I purposefully selected five EFL educators (six, including me) and investigated how we fit/belong at IPRIS, what our perceived roles as EFL educators are, and how our roles as EFL educators in full relate to globalisation. Bourdieu's experiences in Algeria, his theories arising from them, and Bhabha's notion of the third space, which is synchronistic with postcolonial theory, formed my theoretical framework. I collected data through interviews, reflexive journal, and critical incidents that were member checked to ensure trustworthiness. The inductively oriented data analysis yielded the themes and categories that are the foundation of this research. The emergent findings in this research were key in showing how the backgrounds of the participants positioned each of us so differently one from another as EFL educators. The varied ways in which the participants have discerned their roles as individuals and as EFL educators unfolded. The explicit commentary of all the participants in this study (including me) reflected a deep commitment to the needs of the students at IPRIS as we expressed our views on our roles. This research revealed the knowledge that I have built concerning myself, both in my context and in relation to others, by investigating the spaces in between coming and going, participant and researcher, educator and administrator; it has helped to reveal the fault-line spaces that shift in perspective and has thus helped me find my fit/belonging. The flipped researcher-participant roles allowed me to explain and further interrogate my own views of my role at IPRIS, as the primary participant, in relation to the secondary participants' perceptions of their roles. This research has also revealed both the positioning of the EFL educator and the space that English occupies globally, in which it has an opposing logic that sometimes results in hybridisation. The secondary participants' comments in this study reflected their perception that they needed to bring information from their prior experiences, both as educators and as people living in the world, to bear on their primary role of teaching English to Turkish students. Thus, none of the participants felt that they were enabled in their role, as all reported that they needed to add old experiences with the new in order to teach their assigned students and to navigate the terrain at IPRIS. Drawing from the definition of globalisation in the literature, I was also able to use the participants' current perceptions of the role of English as a global language to reveal their relationship to globalisation. As a result of my thesis research, I can recommend the use of analytic auto-ethnography as a form of professional development and evaluation. The degree of reflexivity involved can enable EFL educators at IPRIS and elsewhere to raise their own awareness of other people and of their institutional and cultural contexts.