Regional Perspectives on Integration in the Baltic Sea Region

Location and integration as well as adaptation and co-operation are the key issues to be addressed in an assessment of the future position of the Baltic Rim in the European system. This chapter addresses the influence of the changes in the European economic landscape in the aftermath of the break up of the Iron Curtain, and the new dynamics of the process of European integration since 1989. Regional integration has altered the spatial dimensions of regional activities, and the chapter discusses regional integration frameworks&s; impact on the regional development and potentials of the Baltic Sea Region. The economic concepts of regional integration were originally introduced by Jacob Viner in his analysis of Customs Unions, but the concepts have been expanded in scope and depth to cover most aspects of regional economic co-operation. Four approaches to political integration are distinguished: the federalist approach, the transaction or pluralistic approach, and the functionalist and the neofunctionalist approaches, the &s;theory of Western European integration&s;.