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This article analyses population changes in North-West regions of Russia (the former North-Western economic zone and the Kaliningrad region) and the Baltics at the level of urban districts and municipalities. The cohort component method is used to analyze the youth population dynamics in the administrative territorial units of this level, which makes it possible to estimate the international (intraregional) migration of this population group. This method is used quite rarely, yet it is more accurate...

This article evaluates the social wellbeing of rural municipalities of the Kaliningrad region. The degree of social wellbeing is assessed on the basis of an analysis of statistical data and expert evaluations. Rural districts were identified in the Kaliningrad region on the basis of the following criteria: the share of population residing in the rural areas (threshold value of 50 %); the share of non-residential areas (threshold value of 75 %), the share of agricultural lands (threshold value of...

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...

The role of the ethnic factor in political processes in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia has been rather significant since these countries’ independence. The author investigates the assumption that after the completion of major Eurointegration procedures, the ethnic factor — which became especially important in the Baltics after independence — relegated to the periphery of political life. After a period of ‘independence-induced euphoria’ faded, Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian power groups had to...

With its exclave status, the Kaliningrad region has been drawing attention of many researchers in different fields. Yet the prospects for cooperation between the region and neighbouring communities in Poland and Lithuania, which once constituted an integrated social, economic and political space, remain unclear. Media analysts and scholars alike tend to view the Kaliningrad region as “double periphery”, since it is excluded from major modernisation processes both in the European integration zone...

To study the key instruments of international cooperation between Russia and the European Union aimed at stimulating innovative development of tourism co-financed by the EU and Russia. The author describes specific projects implemented in the framework of the Lithuania-Poland-Russia cross-border cooperation programme for 2009—2013 in the field of tourism. Special attention is paid to analysing tourism innovations that have emerged as a result of the projects aimed at cooperation and tourism development...

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...

Network cooperation — the most efficient form of unlocking the economic and natural potential of territories — is rapidly developing in Russia under the influence of global processes. Due to its unique geopolitical position, the Kaliningrad region is one of the regions where such networks develop at both the regional and international levels. When studying such forms of cooperation, the traditional methods of social sciences as research tools are not sufficient, which is explained by the dynamic...

This article studies the process of transformation of the Swedish political party system in the 1980s. The study aims to develop a typology of the Swedish political party system before and after the transformation processes commenced. The article identifies the key prerequisites for such transformation: the crisis of social democracy and an increase in the nationalist attitudes in the society caused by the negative repercussions of the system of integration of migrants into the society based on the...

The article analyzes the development of EU — Russia energy relations through the lens of the evolution of three parameters: the political agenda (the Energy Dialogue), the institutional structure, and the legal modalities. The identification of these three aspects for assessing the evolution of EU — Russia energy relations is the novelty in the author’s approach. This study aims to identify the previous stages and assess the current state of EU — Russia energy dialogue, since they set out conditions...

This article examines cooperation in the electric energy sector in the Baltic region. The author explores the existing undersea HVDC power exchange projects. It is emphasised that cooperation in the electric energy sector is concentrated largely in the EU member states despite earlier plans to establish the Baltic energy ring, which would also include Russia and Belarus. The author stresses that one of the most acute problems for the EU today is overcoming isolation of the energy systems of the Baltic...

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...

In the context of regional gas infrastructure development this paper considers the issue of energy security of the countries of East Baltic, which depend heavily on a single energy supplier — Russia. In recent years, the countries of the region have announced several LNG terminal construction projects. The European Union will provide political and financial support to only one of these projects. The paper explores the role of gas and energy in the economy of the Eastern Baltic countries. The author...

Marine spatial planning has been widely applied in the leading maritime countries. However, it is not so common in Russia, since the relevant legal framework is largely absent. Spatial planning shares a number of features with marine planning, especially when it comes to the tools, principles, and methods. The differences mainly concern characteristics of the planning object; principles of delineating the borders of territories and water areas; and the authorities responsible for regulation. The...

This article is based on a comparative analysis of Russia and US’s experience of participation in international cooperation in the field of trans-boundary water management. The author showcases the work of Russian-Estonian Commission for Protection and Rational Use of Trans-Boundary Waters and the US-Canadian International Joint Commission. The Russian-Estonian Commission works in accordance with the principle of intergovernmentalism, whereas transnationalism is the founding principle of the International...

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...

Conducting a multi-aspect comparative analysis of curricula of bachelor’s degree programmes in oceanology offered at universities in St Petersburg, Klaipeda and Kaliningrad, the authors trace similarities between the existing variants of oceanologist training in the context of competence modules, disciplines, the so-called academic practices, and the number of hours and credits stipulated in the existing curricula. A formal comparison of generalised quantitative indicators without analysing the content...

Innovative activity is carried out at three levels — those of the state, region and a company or a university. This article considers the level of development of knowledge-based economy in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland at each of the three levels, as well as descripes the spatial differentiation of innovative activity within the Baltic region. The analysis is done on the basis of national and international research, as well as statistical data on the intensity...

This article considers the features of East Prussian land use system, whose crucial component was technologies for land fertility increase. A special package of measures in the framework of melioration and irrigation activities accounted for the high productivity of agriculture in this territory despite the fact that the local climate conditions can hardly be called perfect according to the well-known principles of agricultural science. The authors offer an overview of scientific approaches to the...

This article analyses the military and tactical training of the members of the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union for guerrilla warfare in the interwar period. Small nations, such as Lithuania and other Baltic states, being unable to build up military strength in order to ensure national security, were forced to seek for unconventional methods of warfare, including guerrilla strategies. The study places emphasis on the development of the guerrilla war concept in the Union periodicals. The author retraces...

The article analyses the works on the history of medieval Lithuania (11th—14th centuries) by I. D. Belyaev, K. N. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, N. I. Kostomarov and M. O. Koyalovitch. It focuses on Russian scholars’ perception of Lithuania in 1850—870. Employing the comparative historical method and content analysis, the authors identify the key characteristics underlying the perception of Lithuania in research discourse in the 1850s—1870s. Particular attention is paid to an analysis of preconceptions that affected...

After the German reunification the agricultural development of eastern territories seemed to have picked up its pace. Yet the main problems those territories are facing today hatched already in the mid-1990s. In our study we address the problems and challenges that hinder sustainable development of East German rural areas. We analyse agricultural statistics and describe the structure of agricultural enterprises, land-use, and other critical dimensions of agriculture. We discuss pros and cons of modern...