The Baltic States

Abstract

This chapter examines the successful “return to Europe” by the three Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. It details how they presented European gatekeepers in the EU and NATO with expertly shaped historical and cultural-civilizational narratives that cast the Baltic states as “essentially European” states that had been “captured” by the alien Soviet Union in 1939, hence worthy of “rejoining” a European community they had been unjustly severed from. Skilled leadership and high levels of human development and national unity also helped ease the Baltic return to Europe. The chapter discusses the Baltics’ key role in pushing for an expanded understanding of Europe that would encompass other ex-Soviet states like Ukraine and Georgia, while denying Europeanness to Russia, which is seen as a threat to Europe. Case studies of each of the three Baltic states detail their specific Europeanization processes since 1989.