Brotherhood reconsidered: region-building in the Baltics

After the end of bipolarity in the international system a number of regions emerged in Europe. Their role and functions fall under academic scrutiny as a part of international relations. The dynamics of regional development encompasses internal characteristics, e.g., socio-cultural affinities, cooperative practices and external influences, be they originating from great/regional powers or other regional clusters. This study investigates the conceptualisation and development of the Baltic region. The analysis has an instrumental character by borrowing theoretical tools on regionalism from Rationalist and Reflectivist paradigms. Although these p.~radigms seem to be at loggerheads, my research attempts to combine the contrasting logics with the aim to better illustrate the Baltic case of regionalism. Rationalism supplies the explanatory internal and external factors shaping the region, whereas Reflectivism yields the relevance of political discourses about deliberate construction of regions. The first part of the investigation discusses concepts pertaining to region-building and theoretical approaches of regionalism. The second examines Baltic region-building. The conclusion defines the Baltic region as still existing external construct challenged by otherregional gravities, reflected both in political practices and discourses of political elites.