Unravelling the Baltic Sea Conundrum

In the course of the 1990s, a variety of regional initiatives and associations emerged in the Baltic Sea Region. As a result, today, the region features an extremely high concentration of regionalist structures, which add up to a tight network of cooperative arrangements that all label themselves as "Baltic’.
The present study looks closely at this specific regional phenomenon, the ‘Baltic Sea Conundrum’, by employing a comparative approach. Looking at the cases of Sweden and Finland, their political performance as both regional stakeholders and members of the EU, it is sought to show how in recent years regional agendas have intersected with European issues and vice versa.