Baltic States in World Politics FROM THE PUBLISHER
The aim of this collaborative work is to focus on the international dimension of Estonia's, Latvia's and Lithuania's security challenges after their re-emergence as independent states in 1991. Given their specific geopolitical positioning between the 'old' West and Russia, however, they are subject to particularly acute attention in spite of their smallness. As a result, they have come to represent incarnations of several fundamental post-Cold War questions including: What are the new limits of the West? How does Russia react to international changes? How does the 'new' Europe extend to include even parts of the former Soviet Union? How do small states seceding from a losing, collapsing empire react when exposed to a new international context? What, in fact, does their international position tell us about the new World Order?
FROM THE CRITICS
Booknews
Focusing on security issues, seven papers discuss the Baltic States' reemergence and the changing international system. Topics include the Baltics' adaptation to the new Europe; American policy towards the Baltic States; the NATO/Russia sandwich; long-term challenges of alignment and available security strategies; the Russian policy towards the near abroad; and patterns in the historical record of alignments and security challenges in the Baltic Sea region. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.