Post-Cold War identity politics. Northern and Baltic experiences

Book abstract:

The end of the Cold War and collapse of the Soviet Regime presented opportunities for countries of northern Europe to rediscover their national identities. But those national identities had not been held frozen in some great sociological deep freeze waiting to emerge preserved when the thaw came. They had to be reconstructed in the light of the new Europe and the realignment of European boundaries. This book aims to answer some of the questions posed by that reconstruction and explores a new phase in Baltic history - the forming of the regional identity of the Baltic Sea Area or the 'New Northern Europe' as it is now described.

The work is organised over twelve chapters contributed by a comprehensive range of scholars well versed in international affairs and the politics, history and cultures of the Nordic and Baltic countries. New insights on the 'Northern Dimension' and the development of a new regional relationship with Russia are discussed. All carry the clear message of nations no longer comfortable at being classed as the 'Europe between' but determined to have a strong identifying role in the formation of the 'new northern Europe'. Specific case studies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are provided which explore the possibility of these nations reconstructing a national identity to be matured within and not threatened by a new regional identity.

The work will interest scholars and students engaged in the fields of international affairs, European studies and post-Cold War politics.

Marko Lehti is a senior research fellow in the Department of Contemporary History at the University of Turku, Finland.

David J. Smith is a lecturer in Transition Studies at the Department of Central and East European Studies, University of Glasgow, Scotland.