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Migration processes are amongst the most relevant issues in the geography of the Baltic States. The authors analyse the changes in migration patterns from the early 1990s until today. The focus of the study is the recent trends of migratory movements in the case of Latvia. Due to the country’s economic recession, migration has accelerated in the recent years. Empirical results show the response of the migration system to the changing internal factors and external influences in the times of transition...

This article analyses the natural population increase (decrease) in the postcommunist part of Baltic Europe (the federated state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian, and Warmian-Masurian Voivodeships, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Kaliningrad and Leningrad region, and the federal city of Saint Petersburg) in 2002—2011. The study uses standard methods of demographic analysis, the data provided by national statistical services and Eurostat. All regions analysed are characterised...

The relevance of the study lies in the acute need to modernise the tools for a more accurate and comparable reflection of the demographic reality of spatial objects of different scales. This article aims to test the methods of “demographic rankings” developed by Yermakov and Shmakov. The method is based on the principles of indirect standardisation of the major demographic coefficients relative to the age structure.The article describes the first attempt to apply the method to the analysis of birth...

International cluster is a relatively new form of spatial organisation of economy in the globalisation conditions, which has become a frequent phenomenon in European countries, including those of the Baltic region. It requires a comprehensive study of both regional economics and economic geography. This article aims to identify structured international clusters in the Baltic region and map the corresponding regions. The results obtained will make it possible to get a comprehensive idea of the aggregate...

A stereotypical understanding of EU-Russia energy relations is often reduced to trade in oil and natural gas, which downplays the importance of energy efficiency cooperation. Such cooperation is promoted within the Energy Charter and its Treaty, Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, Energy Dialogue, Common Economic Space, Partnership for Modernisation. However, it lacks practical development, which relates to the instability of the legal environment in Russia, insufficient mechanisms of financial...

At the current stage of social development, particular attention is drawn to studies that assess major infrastructure — and thus political — projects aimed at a qualitative breakthrough in the socio-economic development of the countries under investigation. The scheduled multi-billion investments into energy sector are of political rather than economic nature. The projects to develop alternative power grids and high-speed railways can result in large-scale economic downturns diminishing the prospects...

This article examines policies of Moscow and Brussels in the Baltics since the launch of the European Union’s Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region in June 2009. An increase in the efficiency of Russia’s policy in the region requires not only the development of bilateral relations with the region’s countries but also a dialogue with the European Union, the key player in the Baltic. The author identifies Russian economic, military, political, and humanitarian interests in the region, and describes the...

A higher level of unity and cohesion across the European Union member states is an important aspect of European integration though it has a rather ambiguous nature. The Law on the Common Market, which aims to increase the economic efficiency of the EU, became a subject of extensive discussions among researchers suggesting that its viability at the political and socio-economic levels depends on a fair distribution of gains among the countries and regions of the Community. These discussions resulted...

This article deals with the issues pertinent to the EU — Russia visa dialogue — one of the major areas of cooperation between the two partners. The article aims to identify the main problems of this dialogue, as well as prospects for the introduction of a visa-free regime between the EU and Russia. The authors provide a historical overview of cooperation in this area and consider problems and prospects of visa liberalization from the economic, legal, and political perspectives. The analysis draws...

Integration is one of the main consequences of globalization. Elements of microsystems are growing closer, which brings to the foreground problems of interaction and — in a longer perspective — those of close cooperation between different social systems. The article considers the case of North-West Russia, the only territory having a common border with the EU, in order to examine the issue of Russia using the geographical factor, which Otto von Bismarck called the most powerful and intrinsic factor...

Transnational (involving countries) and cross-border (involving adjacent regions of different countries) cooperation and integration are rapidly developing in the Baltic Sea region. Russia lags behind the Nordic countries and Germany as far as innovative development is concerned; yet our national pace here is comparable to that of Poland and the three Baltic States. At the same time, the features of innovative cooperation vary a great deal depending on the group of countries involved in cooperation...

Although it is a common assumption that innovations are one of the most important factors of economic development, there is a need to review some provisions of innovation methodology so that new fundamental values are taken into account more fully. Most recent business models are based on the depletion of natural environment, whose potential has been almost exhausted. It is necessary to introduce new ideas that are of use for society and create values for companies. One way of achieving this goal...

This article analyses the reasons behind the restoration of diplomatic relations between Russia and Germany after World War I, as well as the fundamental differences in the performance of Russian imperial and Soviet consular missions in East Prussia. On the basis of the earlier unknown documents from the Central Russian archives and the Political archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany, the author describes the establishment of the Soviet Consulate in Königsberg in 1923 and the contribution...

This article focuses on the factors inhibiting a productive rethinking of the past in contemporary Lithuanian-Russian relations. The rethinking of the past is understood as a process facilitating the reconsideration of historical meanings through adjusting them to the expectations and values of the contemporary society. The author argues that in this process historical research — as an important tool for encouraging the co-existence of communities —should fulfil certain social functions. Having chosen...

Recent decades have witnessed an increase in the number of works dedicated to the analysis of effects of historical events on the choice of institutions and further economic and social development of regions. This article employs the new institutional economic theory approach to consider the choices regarding title to land and serfdom in Moscovy and the Polish — Lithuanian Commonwealth (earlier the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) in the 16th—17th centuries. The author emphasizes the factors, which affected...

This article sets out to identify the attitude of the Danish mass media to modern Russian innovations. The research is timely because of the Russian interest in the experience of Denmark — one of the "innovation leaders" of the EU. The author analyses a number of publications on Russia in the Danish mass media. The positive image of Russian innovations in Danish periodicals is analysed against the background of historical stereotypes. The article also describes the Danish national innovation...

Russia promotes the application of GLONASS satellite information system in regional economies. In three regions, the system has already been introduced and is widely used, 21 more regions are introducing the system. Experts believe that this process will take from 3 to 5 years. The introduction and integrated use of GLONASS pose a number of organizational and economic problems for regional administrations. One of such problems is the evaluation of economic benefit from GLONASS implementation in the...

The article considers and assesses the influence of macro-geographical factors on communication behaviour of people in the course of transition to innovative economy through the example of the Baltic Sea region. 1. Dinamika razvitija jekonomicheskogo krizisa: Sweden [The dynamics of the economic crisis: Sweden], 2010, Informacionnyj bjulleten' Instituta Baltijskogo regiona RGU im. I. Kanta [Newsletter of the Institute of Baltic Studies of the Immanuel Kant State University of Russia], I quarter...

This article analyses the role of Russia — the North-West federal district — in the New North concept, which encompasses new political relations in the North of Europe in the framework of international organisations and regional cooperation — for instance, the Northern Dimension. 1. Beloborodova, I. N. 2000. POLIS, № 4, pp. 163—166. 2. V Gosdume projdet «kruglyj stol» na temu realizacii «dorozhnyh kart».[online] Available at: <http://www. rian. ru/world/world_community/20051125/42217940.html>...

This article offers a comparative assessment of the Baltic region countries on the basis of three groups of indicators — indicators of economic and research potential, indicators of dynamics of economic and research potential development, and indicators of economic and innovation potential of the states of the region. The author emphasises the need for Russia to cooperate with other countries of the region in the field of innovations as well as the possible role for the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal...

This paper assesses the level of openness of the Russian economy. It demonstrates that the openness indicators used in the Concept of Long-term Social and Economic Development of the Russian Federation differ from those employed by international organisations. The paper examines the intensity of Russian trade in terms of its gross domestic product and the relatively high barriers in relation to import penetration in Russia. Methodological differences determine the differences in the analysis results...

The territorial cohesion concept became a key priority of the European spatial development policy due to the growing awareness of the role of geography in ensuring sustainable regional development. The article is focused on the way of adapting this concept to the Kaliningrad region as a foundation for a sustainable spatial development policy in the context of the EU and the Baltic Sea Region cohesion policy. 1. Dedkov, V. P., Fedorov, G. M. 2006. Prostranstvennoe, territorial'noe i landshaftnoe...

This article analyses the migration streams in the Baltic Sea region in 1950—2009. The geography of migration movement is considered at the level of state and at the mesolevel. The author assesses the influence of migration on the socioeconomic situation in the region. 1. Kuznetsova, T. Ju. 2009. Geodemograficheskaja obstanovka v stranah Baltijskogo makroregiona: problemy i perspektivy. 2. Fedorov, G. M., Korneevets, V. S. 2009. Baltijskij region, № 2, pp. 32—42. 3. Fedorov, D. G. 2009. Vestnik...

This article analyses the demographic problems of the Pskov region. The authors propose a system of government regulation of demographic processes in view of the functions of the regional executive authorities. 1. Predpolagaemaja chislennost' naselenija Pskovskoj oblasti do 2030 goda 2010. In: Statisticheskij bjulleten. Pskov. 2. Pskovskaja oblast v cifrah: statisticheskiy sbornik. 2010. Pskov. 3. Pskovskij statisticheskij ezhegodnik. 2009: statisticheskij sbornik. 2009. Pskov. 4. Regiony Rossii...

The article focuses on the psychological threats to the health of children and youth emanating from the education system and education: relations of power between teachers and children, parents' ambition to train psychologically and physiologically immature children, etc. The author exposes the contradiction between the set out humanistic approach and the actual directive training mechanisms in educational institutions as well as the promotion of teachers' consumer attitude to the student's health...

This article consists of a series of short essays dedicated to a certain period of the 'popular' socioeconomic history (with a particular focus on the institutional development problems) of the former East Prussia from Antiquity to present days. The authors tackle the issues of the economic history of amber, the role of the Hansa League in the development of medieval trade, the QWERTY-effects in the rail gauge standards, and the peculiarities of the development of the Kaliningrad region in the post-Soviet...

The author identifies trends and variations of the socio-cultural identity and integration of Russians in Latvia. According to the author, since the middle 1990s, two trends have been recognized - first, the “ingrowing” of ethnic Russians into the life of independent Latvia, and second, forming their new identity. The article presents a number of factors hampering the integration of ethnic Russians into Latvian society. Variations and options of socio-cultural identity and integration (or assimilation)...

Nikolai Alekseev’s article was written whilst in exile and belongs to the Eurasian period of his philosophical work. It draws on ideas developed in articles from 1926 and 1927, written for the journal “Put’ [The Way]: A Journal of Russian Religious Thought”. Based on the research of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Russian historians, Alekseev demonstrates how the Russian people’s views on state power and the figure of the ruler took shape. From his perspective, these views uniquely combine...

The article analyzes the final plays from the surviving repertoire of the Neues Schauspielhaus (New Dramatic Theater) in Königsberg, staged in April 1944, four months before the destruction of the city’s historic center due to Anglo-American bombing. The aim of the study is to identify the specifics of the theater’s dramaturgical repertoire selection during the Nazi era in a frontline city, in the context of its historical fate. The plays of Hermann Sudermann — “Teya,” “Fritzchen,” and “The Last...

The study addresses the problem of prototypes for the central figure of P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky’s dilogy “In the Woods” and “On the Mountains” — the Old Believer merchant Patap Chapurin. The analysis examines established theories regarding the genesis of literary characters within scholarly discourse. Biographical details, religious beliefs, and social connections of historical figures are compared with the characteristics of Melnikov’s character. Particular attention is given to arguments supporting...

The phenomenon of verbal charms in Russian linguoculture is examined through the lens of speech act theory, one of the key directions of contemporary pragmalinguistics. The relevance of the study is determined by the need for an in-depth investigation of culturally conditioned speech genres functioning within sacred discourse, as well as their role in shaping the linguistic worldview. The aim of the research is to identify the pragmatic characteristics of verbal charms as a distinct class of performative...

The article addresses the issue of collective reflection on various manifestations of reality. The aim of the study is to confirm the existence of cultural modality as a linguocultural category. This objective was achieved through the methods of description, componential and pragmatic analysis, and linguocultural interpretation. Using L. N. Tolstoy’s story “Polikushka” as material, the study examines the reactions of representatives of the 19th-century peasant world to different aspects of reality...

Based on some of the states of Sergey Zenkin’s article, I describe the relationship between affect and symbol. Affect has two sides — cognitive and non-cognitive. The latter manifests itself in unconscious reactions. Conscious affect is regulated by the communicative situation and the sociocultural environment. Sergey Zenkin describes two systems of meaning circu­la­tion. The first is sign communication, the second is working with features and symbols. Sym­bols can be generated unconsciously and...

The article analyzes regional memory politics in the Republic of Ingushetia using the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the deportation of the Ingush people and the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Ingush statehood as case studies. Employing an actor-oriented approach based on the works of M. Bernhard and J. Kubik, along with discourse analysis, the author examines how various actors shape and promote competing narratives of the past. The study demonstrates that the narrative of the...

The views of representatives of monarchist circles within Russian society toward the last Russian emperor during the years of the First World War are examined. The study concludes that two models of monarchists’ attitudes toward Nicholas II during the specified period can be identified. The apologetic model was based on monarchists’ perception of the emperor’s personal virtues, including his loyalty to duty. Among the prominent apologists of the mon­arch was A. I. Dubrovin, the founder of the All-Russian...

The study examines the instruments for shaping post-Soviet macro-identity in the Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia). Macro-identification is defined in a narrow sense as a political technology of civilizational reorientation, involving a break with historical and cul­tural ties to Greater Russia and the formation of new connections with the Western world. The article proposes a theoretical integration of the concepts of macro-political identity (O. Yu. Malinova), hybrid identity, and the...

Based on a review of the contemporary state family policy of the Russian Federation re­garding the formation of family values, the article presents specific proposals for its improve­ment, using Saint Petersburg as a case study. The novelty of the study lies in a comprehen­sive approach that combines the analysis of the legal framework, statistical data, and sociolog­ical surveys to evaluate the value-based component of family policy within the specific context of Saint Petersburg. The methodology...

The paper presents the results of a study of the acute contact toxicity of imidacloprid and thiacloprid to honey bees (Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758). The experiment assessed survival and behavioral activity of insects at 4, 24, and 48 hours after a single exposure to various concentrations of the insecticides. It was found that both compounds exhibit high insecticidal activity; however, the nature of their effects differs significantly. Thiacloprid shows an earlier onset of toxic effects and bee...

The article examines the features of the spatial organization of student campuses using examples from domestic and international experience. The relevance of the study is determined by the growing role of university campuses as drivers of regional socio-economic development and the formation of the “creative class.” The aim of the work is to identify models of the spatial organization of university campuses, to conduct their comparative analysis, and to assess the prospects for implementing foreign...