Europeanization tendencies of the foreign and security policy of the Baltic states

ENThe article attempts to look at the foreign and security policy (FSP) of the Baltic States through the prism of the Europeanization concept. By associating Europeanization with loyalty to EU norms and construction of European identity, it analyzes the impact of the EU on the FSP of the Baltic States while seeking membership and after having become EU members. On the way to the EU, the Europeanization of the foreign and security policy of the Baltic States was essentially conducted in one direction – from top to bottom (from the center to national states). On the one hand, it was an instrumental rather than value-related rapprochement of the objectives between the FSP of the Baltic States and CFSP. On the other hand, during this period the national Europeanization projection also came to light – the requirements of the EU were used as a protective shield to justify unpopular decisions of both domestic and foreign policy. When the Baltic States became EU members, the instrumental interpretation of the EU remained, yet the efforts of the states to impact the common foreign and security policy of the EU by shifting national interests to the EU level strengthened. The foreign and security policy of the Baltic States, as in a distorting mirror, reflects the EU CFSP inconsistency related to the indetermination of the EU as a specific political object. In a sense, the foreign and security policy of the Baltic States is more consistent than that of the European Union. In the policy of EU neighborhood and Eastern partnership, they emphasize not the instrumental, but the normative aspect, urging that the values-related fundamentals of Europe be treated seriously. [From the publication]

• Dabartinis Europos Sąjungos ekonominės ir politinės integracijos etapas - kaip spręsti "sendaikčio" dilemą? / Gediminas Vitkus. Politologija. 2009, Nr. 3 (55), p. 3-29.
• Debatai dėl Lietuvos užsienio politikos / Raimundas Lopata. Politologija. 2010, Nr. 1(57), p. 125-136.
• "Europos normatyvinė galia" ir Lietuvos užsienio politika / Gražina Miniotaitė. Politologija. 2006, Nr. 3 (43), p. 3-19.
• Guilt, sympathy, and cooperation : EU-Baltic relations in the early 1990s / Ainius Lasas. Eastern European politics and societies. 2008, Vol. 22, no. 2, p. 347-372.
• Imperijos darymas. Lietuviškos ideologijos metmenys: Europos Sąjunga ir Lietuvos geopolitika XXI a. pirmojoje pusėje / Gintaras Beresnevičius. Vilnius : Vilniaus universiteto leidykla, 2003. 76 p.
• Lithuanian foreign policy: concepts, achievements and preidicaments / Evaldas Nekrašas. Lithuanian foreign policy review. 2004, 13/14, p. 28-35.
• Neighbourhood politics of Baltic States: between the EU and Russia / Dovilė Jakniūnaitė. Identity and Foreign Policy / edited by Eiki Berg and Piret Ehin. Farnham: Ashgate, 2009. P. 117-131.