Baltic countries in the context of globalization: regional integration and the new form of transition

Abstract

Regional integration processes in the Baltic region are described and analyzed. These processes are comprehended as an important factor of further social, economic and technological modernization in the Baltic countries, as an precondition for more intensive and active integration of Baltic economic systems into the European and global economic and technological structures, as well as an knowledge based society and knowledge economy creation factor. The arguments determining the idea of the Baltic region community and unity, as well as opposing arguments are evaluated. The main principles of integration in the Baltic region, as well as the possible integration strategies are analyzed. The unified social, economic and technological space in the Baltic region as an research area is described. Formation of the unified social, economic and technological space in the Baltic region could be defined as an important precondition for the further modernization and for more intensive and active integration of the national societal and economic systems in the Baltic countries into the common European and global development processes. Formation of this unified space in the Baltic region could be comprehend as an successful case of the regional transformations in the European Union: regional transformations could be defined as an important aspect of the social, economic and technological modernization in the European Union in general, and as an important factor of the knowledge based society and knowledge economy creation. The basis for the formation of a unified social, economic, technological space in the Baltic region is the comprehension of this region as a whole. Regional transformations and the integral spaces in the Baltic region formation processes could be defined as an important and an complicated scientific research area.