Suchergebnisse

It is argued in this article that the enlargement processes of the two major institutions of the West significantly affect the 'externalities' of the Baltic Sea area, and that this area should therefore be understood as a European subregion rather than as a distinct region. Whereas the extent of institutional adaptations of the European Union and NATO since the end of the East-West conflict is impressive, both enlargements are also creating new problems. In the case of the EU, its homogeneity and the functioning of its institutions promise to be stretched to their very limits, particularly given the tendencies towards 'opting out' of the aquis in several EU member states of the Baltic Sea area. Concerning NATO, the author recognizes the irony that the new members hoped to join the 'old alliance', while in reality this has already undergone transformation from a defence body to an institution dealing primarily with out-of-area problems. For both the enlarged EU and NATO the 'partnership' with Russia is more a modus vivendi than a clear perspective for the future and there is a need for further adapations on both sides.

Sicherheitsfragen nehmen eine neue Position und Bedeutung auf der Agenda der Ostseeregion ein. Um die Stellung der Region innerhalb Europas weiter zu stärken, ist es notwendig und angebracht, über die bisherigen Anfänge hinauszudenken. Das Vorhaben ist nach wie vor durchführbar, da feststeht, dass der Zusammenhalt in der Region wachsen und sie somit stabiler werden wird. Die Zukunft der Beziehungen zwischen der EU und Rußland stellt jedoch den Haken an der Sache dar, und es scheint so, als gliche es einem beispiellosen Kunststück, dieses Problem zu lösen. Um die Möglichkeiten, die sich aus der Situation nach dem Konflikt ergeben haben, wirklich zu nutzen, ist es notwendig, einige der bisher gehegten Prinzipien, hinter sich zu lassen, die die Schaffung des politischen Raumes um die Ostsee herum gelenkt haben.

The relevance of the study lies in the acute need to modernise the tools for a more accurate and comparable reflection of the demographic reality of spatial objects of different scales. This article aims to test the methods of "demographic rankings" developed by Yermakov and Shmakov. The method is based on the principles of indirect standardisation of the major demographic coefficients relative to the age structure.The article describes the first attempt to apply the method to the analysis of birth and mortality rates in 1995 and 2010 for 140 countries against the global average, and for the Baltic Sea states against the European average. The grouping of countries and the analysis of changes over the given period confirmed a number of demographic development trends and the persistence of wide territorial disparities in major indicators. The authors identify opposite trends in ranking based on the standardised birth (country consolidation at the level of averaged values) and mortality (polarisation) rates. The features of demographic process development in the Baltic regions states are described against the global and European background. The study confirmed the validity of the demographic ranking method, which can be instrumental in solving not only scientific but also practical tasks, including those in the field of demographic and social policy.