From Soviet Republics To Eu Member States A Legal Political Assessment Of The Baltic States Accession To The Eu 2

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the legal and political challenges surrounding the EU accession of the Baltic States. It examines the impact of EU enlargement on relations with Russia and on the constitutional development of the countries concerned.

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the legal and political challenges surrounding the EU accession of the Baltic States. It examines the impact of EU enlargement on relations with Russia and on the constitutional development of the countries concerned.

Since the end of the Cold War there has been an increased interest in the Baltics. The Baltic States brings together three titles, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, to provide a comprehensive and analytical guide integrating history, political science, economic development and contemporary events into one account. Since gaining their independence, each country has developed at its own pace with its own agenda and facing its own obstacles. The authors examine the tensions accompanying a post-communist return to Europe after the long years of separation and how each country has responded to the demands of becoming a modern European state. Estonia was the first of the former Soviet republics to enter membership negotiations with the European Union in 1988 and is a potential candidate for the next round of EU expansion in 2004. Lithuania and Latvia have also expressed their desire for future membership of NATO and the EU.

This book provides an informative and interesting overview of developments in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as they made the transition from Soviet domination to membership of the EU. It focuses in particular on the concepts of identity, sovereignty and power in the domestic and international politics of the Baltic states.

In today's interconnected, differentiated and polarized European Union, sub-regional groupings between the national and EU level are a highly relevant empirical phenomenon. Despite their importance, the interactions between sub-regionalisms and EU actors and processes remain under-researched. This book fills this large research gap by applying a systematic comparative approach. Taking into account a huge corpus of empirical data gained through expert interviews and document analysis, this study provides the conceptual and empirical groundwork necessary to better understand EU sub-regionalism. For the timeframe between 2009 and 2018, it analyses the scope of sub-regional cooperation in the Baltic, Benelux and Visegrád groupings. Moreover, it compares their respective institutional design, political identity, foreign policy as well as their external recognition by EU actors. A special focus lies on their role in six EU policy cases, including EU budget negotiations, TTIP, the drafting process of the EU Global Strategy, refugee relocation quotas, the revision of the posted workers directive and defence cooperation through PESCO. In its conclusion, this book identifies two sub-regional archetypes: functional hubs and political tools. While differing in many regards, the shared assessment finds that the overall bridge-building efforts of the Baltic, Benelux and Visegrád sub-regionalisms exceed their spoiling potential.

This edited book analyses the issues of state-building, the rule of law and good governance, and human rights in the post-Soviet space after 30 years from the USSR dissolution. In doing so, it assesses the presence (or absence) and the level of influence of the Soviet legacies in the constructed political and legal systems of the post-Soviet republics. Assessing whether individual’s interests are protected in theory and practice, the book conceptualizes the legacies that the Soviet Union left in the post-Soviet space after 30 years of disintegration. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of human rights, governance, democratization studies, post-Soviet and Russia studies, and more widely to comparative politics, political economy, humanitarian studies and political history.

Volume II considers the history of the European Union from an inside-out perspective, focusing on the internal developments that shaped the European integration process. Taking an innovative, thematic approach, this volume will be of interest to students and researchers of European integration.