Looking back to the thirty years of Baltic musicologists'' conferences we can distinguish their two main functions, the fulfilling of which has taken place inseparably from one another. First of all, they have had an unvaluable social importance preserving and reinforching our Baltic identity and solidarity. At the same time they habe been one of the main audience before which we have during tens of years acquainted one another with the best achievements of our musicological thought.

During the Cold War, NATO had proved itself successful in protecting the West. Therefore, NATO was seen as an organization that had the potential of maintaining security, democracy and peace. It has been repeatedly suggested that the US promised Russia no more NATO expansion. A promise which was broken in the 90s. During the 90s the Clinton Doctrine introduced a new way of expanding democracy. The US, NATO and EU began to argue that NATO was an extension of democracy, peace and economic prosperity, which was especially prominent during the expansion to the Baltic states. The expansion to the Baltics made Russia sensitive towards expansion to other post-Soviet regions. Interestingly, during this expansion US-Russian relations were stable and featured extensive cooperations between NATO and Global War on Terror missions. Moreover, the US made several treaties to keep relations stable in the Baltic Sea region, and they also promoted economic trade with both the Baltic states and Russia.

Dissertation focuses on qualitative aspects of EU communication strategies applied in two new EU member states, young democracies – Lithuania and Estonia. The overall goal of the research was twofold: to gain a better understanding about the reasons that determine implementation of EU Communication Policy in different national contexts as well as to propose possible solutions how to reshape and adapt it to specific cultures and conditions. Dissertation deals with the normative approach, that EU communication can provide a basis for the formation of the European public sphere and can help to bridge the ‘gap‘ between EU institutions and citizens on the national level. Generally, this comparative study performed in two Baltic countries has shown that while analysing European political communication, it is crucially important to examine strategic-organisational, as well as contextual factors (socio-cultural, political, economic conditions, local particularities of histories and traditions of communication) and values of those communicating (institutional communication officers and journalists) that influence their relationship (political communication culture) and have an impact on messages produced. / Disertacijoje analizuojama, kaip vyksta politikos komunikacijos sistemų europeizacijos procesai naujosiose narėse, jaunos demokratijos valstybėse (Lietuvoje ir Estijoje), apie kurių kontekstą ir patirtis Europos moksliniame diskurse pernelyg mažai yra žinoma. Mokslinė problema formuluojama tokiu klausimu: kokiu būdu ir kokiomis priemonėmis galima būtų užtikrinti efektyvią politikos komunikaciją tarp ES lygmens bei nacionalinių institucijų ir piliečių, ir taip pasiūlyti efektyvių sprendimų, kaip institucinė ES komunikacijos politika, pritaikyta prie skirtingų ES šalių narių ar jų grupių (tokių kaip Baltijos šalys) kontekstų, galėtų padėti spręsti ES demokratijos stygiaus problemą bei paspartinti bendros politinės viešosios erdvės formavimąsi Europoje? Darbe siekta parodyti, kad veiksniai, lemiantys Europos viešosios erdvės formavimąsi, yra daugialypiai bei kompleksiški. Remiantis Lietuvos ir Estijos atvejo analize galima daryti prielaidą, kad ES komunikacijos politikos įgyvendinimą nacionaliniu lygmeniu ir viešosios erdvės europeizacijos galimybes „iš viršaus“ apsprendžia bent trys skirtingos grupės veiksnių: strateginiai-organizaciniai, politikos komunikacijos kultūros (politikos-žiniasklaidos santykio) ir sociokultūriniai (priklausomybė nuo politinio, ekonominio, socialinio ir kt. konteksto).

Despite their similar size, material resources, shared geopolitical conditions and common history, the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have pursued remarkably different policies towards Russia in the 1994-2010 period. Complex patterns of differentiation are evident across issue areas and over time. Given the static structural similarities between the Baltic states, how can we explain their divergent policies towards Russia and the change in these policies over time? This puzzle informs the central research question of this study: Why did Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian foreign policies towards Russia diverge in the 1994 to 2010 period? This work analyses the foreign policy of the Baltic states using typologies based on two axes: cooperative/adversarial and pragmatic/principled. Relying primarily on the liberal approach to international relations, the theoretical framework identifies six independent variables: the left/right political orientation of the government, instrumental usage of principled policies, the ethnic factor, business interests, membership in the EU and NATO, and, finally, Moscow’s own policies. It suggests that these factors played causal roles in determining Baltic policy towards Russia. Three case studies on the oil and gas sectors, as well as historical tensions, provide the empirical evidence to trace and explain the differentiated pathways of Baltic foreign policies. The empirical analysis provides evidence to argue that due to domestic political differences Lithuania pursued the most adversarial and principled policy towards Russia. Estonia, by way of contrast, pursued cooperative and pragmatic policies regarding energy issues. On political questions, however, it maintained a principled and adversarial stance, though this was less pronounced that that of Lithuania. Finally, Latvia pursued moderately principled and relatively adversarial energy policies placing it in between Lithuania and Estonia. With regard to history, Estonia’s and particularly Latvia’s policies experienced a notable evolution from adversarial and principled to more cooperative and pragmatic policies. In sum, this work demonstrates that the typologies of Baltic policies differed across sectors and experienced both divergence and at times convergence in rhetoric if not policies.

Magistro baigiamajame darbe išanalizuotas Baltijos valstybių įvaizdžio formavimas šiuolaikinėje Rusijos Federacijos internetinėje žiniasklaidoje, nagrinėjama, kaip Baltijos valstybių įvaizdis keičiasi keičiantis Rusijos užsienio politikai. Pirmoje darbo dalyje aptariamas žiniasklaidos vaidmuo šiuolaikiniame pasaulyje, nagrinėjama žiniasklaidos svarba, internetinės žiniasklaidos vaidmuo, masinės informacijos priemonių panaudojimas informaciniame kare. Antroje dalyje pateikiama Rusijos Federacijos politikos Baltijos valstybių atžvilgiu raida, aptariama kuo pasižymėjo ir kaip keitėsi Rusijos Federacijos užsienio politika valdant Borisui Jelcinui ir Vladimirui Putinui. Trečioje dalyje nagrinėjamas Rusijos Federacijos politikos Baltijos valstybių atžvilgiu atspindys internetinėje žiniasklaidoje, aptariamas informacinio karo, kaip politikos vykdymo priemonės panaudojimas, analizuojama, kaip kuriamas Baltijos valstybių įvaizdis per pagrindinių problemų internetinėje žiniasklaidoje pateikimą, pateikiami socialinių apklausų rezultatai, nusakantys, kaip keitėsi Rusijos piliečių nuomonė apie Baltijos valstybes keičiantis Rusijos užsienio politikai ir žiniasklaidos pateikiamam Lietuvos, Latvijos ir Estijos įvaizdžiui. / This master’s final work covers the analysis of the Baltic States’ image which is being formed by the contemporary Russian Federation’s mass media on the internet. Also, the present paper focuses on the change of the image of the Baltic States which is changing together with the foreign policy of the Russian Federation. In the first part of the work there is a consideration of the mass media’s role in the contemporary world, using the mass media as a tool in the information warfare. The second part of the work points out the development of the foreign policy of the Russian Federation in relation to the Baltic States; the consideration unfolds how was changing the foreign policy of the Russian Federation during the governing of Vladimir Putin and Boris Yelcin. In the third part of the work the research is carried out on the reflection of the foreign policy of the Russian Federation in connection with the Baltic States which has been placed on the internet. Moreover, the use of the information warfare as a tool of politics is discussed. Also, this part of the paper analyzes how the image of the Baltic States is created through the presentment of the main problems on the internet’s media. Public opinion polls reveal how the Russian Federation citizens’ opinion about the Baltic States is changing together with the foreign policy of the Russian Federation.

Magistro baigiamąjame darbe atlikta Baltijos šalių valstybės skolos ir jos valdymo lyginamoji analizė. Darbą sudaro trys dalys. Pirmoje darbo dalyje apžvelgiami teoriniai valstybės skolos ir jos valdymo aspektai: pateikiamas valstybės skolos klasifikavimas, skolinimosi instrumentai, veiksniai, leimiantys valstybės skolinimosi poreikį, valstybės skolos vertinimo rodikliai, apžvelgiama kokį poveikį šalies ekonomikai daro valstybės skolinimasis, taip pat valstybės skolos valdymo problemos bei kylančios rizikos. Antrojoje darbo dalyje pateikiama Baltjos šalių valstybės skolos analizės, vertinimo bei prognozavimo metodologija. Trečiojoje darbo dalyje atliekama Baltijos šalių ekonominės situacijos, lemiančios valstybės skolinimosi poreikį, analizė. Taip pat analizuojamas Baltijos šalių valstybės skolos dydis, jį lemiantys veiksniai, skolos struktūra, atliekamas valstybės skolos vertinimas pagal santykinius rodiklius bei apžvelgiami skolos valdymo ypatumai. Pritaikant koreliacinę analizę tiriamas Baltijos šalių valstybės skolos ir pasirinktų veiksnių ryšys. Panaudojant daugialypės tiesinės regresijos bei autoregresijos slankiųjų vidurkių metodus, prognozuojama Baltijos šalių valstybės skola 2013 - 2014 metams. Galiausiai pateikiamos išvados ir siūlymai. / The master thesis analyses and compares the government debt of Baltic states and its management. The work consists of three parts. The first part provides theoretical overview of government debt and its management: the classification of the government debt, borrowing instruments, factors, which influence state's borrowing needs, government debt indicators, the link between governmnet debt and economic growth, as well as problems of government debt management and emerging risks. The second part presents the methodology of government debt analysis, evaluation and forecasting. The third part primaliry analyzes economic situation in Baltic states. It also analyzes and compares changes in government debt of Baltic states, the reasons of changes, costs of borrowing, the debt structure, also evaluates government debt in Baltic states by using relative rates of government debt and reviews the main aspects of government debt management. The correlation analysis is used to investigate the relationship between government debt of Baltic states and some selected factors. By using multiple regression model and autoregressive – moving average method, there is forecasting the changes of government debt in Baltic states in period 2013 – 2014. Finally, conclusions are made and recommendations are given.

The four essays included in this dissertation are in the field of open economy Macroeconomics. Essays I, II and IV deal with a work-horse model in this field – a two-sector small open economy growth model with traded and nontraded goods. Writing down such a model requires an assumption about the role of traded and nontraded goods in domestic consumption and investments. While several empirical studies have looked at the consumption side, a systematic examination of the role of traded and nontraded goods in investments is missing. Essay I aims to fill this gap. Drawing on extensive empirical evidence, we show that aggregate investment expenditure shares on traded and nontraded goods are very similar in rich and poor countries. Furthermore, the two expenditure shares have remained close to constant over time, with the average nontraded expenditure share varying between 0.54-0.60 over the 1960-2002 period. Combined with the fact that the relative price of nontraded goods correlates positively with income and exhibits large differences across space and time, our findings suggest that investment can be modeled using the Cobb-Douglas aggregator. The results of this essay offer a new restriction for the two-sector growth model, which can alter the conclusions drawn from the model. To demonstrate this, we apply the new restriction to a study by Hsieh and Klenow (2003), which argues that differences in relative productivity between traded and nontraded sectors, i.e., the Balassa-Samuelson effect, is the main cause of higher PPP-adjusted investment rates in rich countries. With the restriction imposed on the model, no more than 25 percent of the differences in PPP-adjusted investment rates between rich and poor counties can be attributed to the Balassa-Samuelson effect. In Essays II and IV the same two-sector growth model is put to the test using the recent economic developments in countries of Eastern and Central Europe. Essay II investigates whether the two-sector growth model can explain the magnitudes and the timing of the trade flows in the Baltic countries. The model is calibrated for each of the three countries, which we simulate as small closed economies that suddenly open up to international trade and capital flows. The results show that the model can account for the observed magnitudes of the trade deficits in the 1995-2001 period. Introducing a real interest rate risk premium in the model increases its explanatory power. According to the model, trade balances will turn positive in the Baltic states around 2010. Essay IV starts by summarizing empirical regularities for the key aggregate real sector variables in the eight countries that joined the EU in May 2004. It is shown that, following the reforms in the early 1990s, real sector developments in all eight countries exhibit remarkable similarities. Interestingly, this is the case despite the fact that different reform policies were pursued in several dimensions (e.g., privatization, nominal exchange rate). Next, we show that a calibrated two-sector small open economy growth model can account for most of the real sector adjustments in early post-reform years. Empirical studies have found rapid traded sector productivity growth in Central and Eastern European countries over the last decade. When traded sector productivity growth is added to the model, it captures the development in all key real sector variables during the post-reform period. Finally, Essay III contributes to the study of financial crises in emerging markets. In contrast to the other essays, this paper develops a highly stylized theoretical model that allows us to study analytically government response to financial crises. In particular, Essay III develops a framework for analyzing optimal government bailout policy in a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model where financial crises are exogenous. Important elements of the model are that private borrowers internalize only part of the social cost of foreign borrowing in the emerging market and that the private sector is illiquid in the event of a crisis. The distinguishing feature of our paper is that it addresses the optimal bailout policy in an environment where there are both costs and benefits of bailouts, and where bailout guarantees potentially distort investment decisions in the private sector. We show that it is always optimal to commit to a bailout policy that only partially protects investment against inefficient liquidation, both in a centralized economy and a market economy. Due to overinvestment in the market economy, the government's optimal level of bailout guarantees is lower than in the social optimum. Further, we show that, in contrast to a social planner, the government in the market economy should optimally bail out a smaller fraction of private investments when the probability of a crisis is higher. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2005 S. i-x: sammanfattning, s. 1-187: 4 uppsatser

Submitted by Daniele Santos (danielesantos.htl@gmail.com) on 2017-02-20T20:14:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Eivile.pdf: 1355320 bytes, checksum: 5bae5ea284bbe27cf130a12cab482fc7 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Janete de Oliveira Feitosa (janete.feitosa@fgv.br) on 2017-02-22T12:16:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Eivile.pdf: 1355320 bytes, checksum: 5bae5ea284bbe27cf130a12cab482fc7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-02T14:31:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Eivile.pdf: 1355320 bytes, checksum: 5bae5ea284bbe27cf130a12cab482fc7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-11-08 / International trade is the key element of globalization and closer economic and political cooperation between the countries. The thesis focuses on analyzing the regional integration effects on the trade patterns of the members of regional trading blocs. The analysis focuses on the EU as the regional formation, and the Baltic States as the members of this union. The Baltic States have undergone unique economic and political developments since gaining independence after the Soviet Union collapsed. Lessons learned from the Baltic States’ experience are unique and valuable for other countries and regions, which are undergoing similar transformations. The main research method used in the thesis is the gravity model of trade, which rests on the key assumption that trade between the countries is defined by the size of the economies and the distance between the countries. The gravity equation estimates showed that the membership of the Baltic States in the EU had a positive and significant effect on the export levels of the Baltic States to other EU members. On the other hand, the membership in the EU is not the main trade stimulating factor. The more important factor for the Baltic States’ exports is the common history of belonging to the former Soviet Union. Therefore, the longer lasting ties still remain important trade creating factors for the Baltic States. At the same time, analysis revealed that the economic ties of the Baltic States with the former Soviet Union members was diminishing significantly over time.

The collapse of USSR in 1991 became a starting point for many deep changes in Eastern and Central Europe. These changes affected not only politics, but all spheres of life. Urban development reflected it as well. The post-Soviet urban transformation is a specific chapter in history of the cities. In our work we will focus on the influence of cultural activities on districts' development with examples of Užupis in Vilnius and Kalamaja in Tallinn. Today both of these districts are known because of their artistic image and quick development. At the same time, these two capitals of Baltic states are registered on UNESCO World heritage list and Užupis and Kalamaja are parts of the protected areas. To support the balance between preservation of the historical heritage and modern development is an important issue for both of them. We will consider the influence of cultural activities on district's development and distinctive features of these processes in cases of Užupis and Kalamaja. Key words: urban transformation, urban development, Cultural quarters, urban districts, cultural heritage, post-Soviet, Baltic states Абстракт Распад СССР в 1991 стал отправной точкой для множества глубоких изменений в Восточной и Центральной Европе. Изменения затронули не только политику, но и все сферы жизни, также они...

This essay is a comparative empirical study of ethnic integration mainly of the Russian-speaking minorities in the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) in a post-communism setting. As Lithuania has a Polish minority that is as large as the Russian-speaking, they too shall be included in the study but not as thoroughly as the Russian-speaking minority. Thus the problem is: to what degree are the ethnic minorities integrated with the titular nations in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania? In order to study ethnic integration I have set up a theoretical framework largely based on Weiner’s theory of integration. The theoretical framework focuses on three dimensions: Citizenship, Identity and Segregation. The method used is Most Similar System Design (MSSD). The aim of MSSD is to identify differences in the dimensions which can explain differences in the factor investigated. This particular essay aims to identify the differences in citizenship, identity and segregation which can explain differences in integration between Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Opinion data and statistics as well as relevant literature on the subjects of attitudes and minority situation in the Baltic States will hopefully give a fair picture of the circumstances regarding integration. My conclusions are that the minorities in Lithuania are the ones most integrated with the titular society; due to a legislation that enabled all permanent residents with automatic citizenship and a much smaller minority population. Minorities (save the Polish) do not live in self-contained enclaves where they employ each other, speak the same language and insulate themselves from the titular society in Lithuania. Estonia on the other hand has a legislation that did only give full citizenship to inter-war citizens leaving the majority of the Russian-speaking migrants stateless. Estonia consists of two different ethnic societies living side by side with few interactions between the two which enables the minority to insulate itself. The minority in Estonia is the least integrated minority in the Baltic states. Latvia gave automatic citizenship only to inter-war citizens leaving the majority of the russian-speakers without citizenship. Although Latvia has the largest minority population the minority does not live in self-contained enclaves insulated from the titular society (save some areas in eastern Latvia) which makes them more integrated than the minority in Estonia but less integrated than the minorities in Lithuania.