On the Road to the Second Century: The Geopolitical Future of the Baltic States in the Visions of Politicians and Political Scientists

Abstract After they had emerged as national republics in 1918, the Baltic states spent the first hundred years of their independence as small, isolated, poorly defended countries that sought to foster their national identity nonetheless. Geopolitically speaking, they had little influence on their environment, rather constituting an area of geopolitical interests of other states. The geopolitical visions of the 21stcentury picture them as part of an integrated Euro-Atlantic space with good potential to become members of the centre of power that is currently taking shape in Central Europe or provide a strong Western European border next to the weakening Russia. The 21stcentury will be the age of US leadership, putting the Baltic states, as allies to the US, in a safer position than they were in the last century.