Alexander Sergounin IPF Fellow 2003 sergounin@policy.hu
    Nizhny Novgorod Linguistic University, Russia
 
Reports: 
Mentor 1 
(Erin Jenne)
Mentor 2 
(Ulrich Sedelmeier)
Useful Links 
 

Final Report

April 2003

According to the project timetable, my research activities were focused on the following priorities:

1. Updating the database. The data for the project were drawn from the following sources:

  • The search on Internet
  • International organizations' documents: EU, NATO, Council of Europe, Council of the Baltic Sea States, Nordic institutions, etc.
  • Governmental publications and materials
  • Interviews with officials, politicians, NGO activists and experts
  • Research literature: monographs, analytical papers, and articles
  • Statistical information, yearbooks, handbooks and reference books
  • Periodicals

I've conducted my research in several libraries such as Kaliningrad State University, St. Petersburg University, Danish Institute for International Studies, Central European University, Moscow State University, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), Institute for Information on Social Science, Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Institute of Europe (all of them are a part of the Russian Academy of Sciences), Russian State Library (Moscow), Nizhny Novgorod Regional Library, Nizhny Novgorod Linguistic University and Nizhny Novgorod State University.

I've continued my consultations with prominent Russian and foreign experts on Kalinigrad: Leonid Karabeshkin, President, BaltiaClub, St Petersburg; Boris Kuznetsov, Director, Center for Integration Research & Projects, St. Petersburg; Vladimir Kuznetsov, Vice-Rector, St. Petersburg University of Humanities; Dr. Alexei Ignatiev, East-West Institute, Kaliningrad-Moscow; Prof. Gennady Fedorov and Associate Professor Yuri Zverev, Kaliningrad State University; Dr. Pertti Joenniemi and Prof. Haakan Wiberg, Project Leaders, Danish Institute for International Studies (Copenhagen); Prof. Poul Wolffsen, Department of Social Sciences, Roskilde University, Denmark; Christian Wellmann, Deputy Director, Schlesvig-Holstein Institute of Peace (Germany); Edward Rhodes, Deputy Director, Institute for European Studies, Rutgers University, USA.

I've made several study trips to Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Copenhagen, Minsk, Vilnius and Gdansk to work in the libraries, interview experts and take part in relevant conferences. I had to cancel my proposed trips to Estonia and Latvia because of:

  • The lack of funding (travel costs jumped up both inside Russia and in the Baltic Sea region in 2003), and
  • Visa barriers (the Baltic states and Poland have recently introduced a Schengen-like visa regime that resulted in increasing visa fees and extending a waiting period)

2. The work on the policy paper. I've produced three drafts and revised them in accordance with comments of my individual and group mentors. The final version will be uploaded upon the receipt of mentors' approval. The March 2004 IPF training session was really helpful for producing a (hopefully) final version.

3. The work on academic papers. Two books and several papers and book chapters were produced and published (see the next section).

4. Dissemination of the project results. There were three main venues for my dissemination activities: conference presentations, publications and teaching.

4.1. Conference participation and presentations:

  • New Security Challenges as Challenges to Peace Research', 16th Nordic and 4th Baltic Peace Research Convention, September 2003, St. Petersburg (paper: 'Encouraging the EU-Russia Dialogue on Kaliningrad: Problems and opportunities')
  • 'Laboratory on the Margins: the EU's Northern Dimension', Expert Seminar, Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen, September 2003 (paper on Russian policies in the Northern Dimension framework)
  • 'Identity of the Renamed Cities', expert seminar, Nizhny Novgorod Linguistic University, October 2003 (paper on Kaliningrad/Konigsberg)
  • 'EU's Eastern Dimension and Russia', international conference, Center for Integration Research & Programs, Novgorod the Great, November 2003 (paper: 'EU's Eastern and Northern Dimensions: Comparative Analysis')
  • Slipper Rock University, PA, USA, February 2004 (public lecture: Kaliningrad and the EU-Russia relations under Putin')
  • Interregional Studies in Social Sciences, INO-Center, Moscow, March 2004 (paper on the Kaliningrad problem)
  • International Studies Association Annual Convention, Montreal, March 2004 (paper giver and discussant)
  • Open Society Institute, Budapest, March 2004 (public lecture: 'Kalinigrad: pilot region or exclave?')
  • Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA, April 2004 (public lecture: 'The Kaliningrad problem in the context of EU enlargement')
  • East European Day Conference, University of Fribourg, Switzerland, June 2004 (paper: 'Kalinigrad: pilot region or exclave?') (forthcoming)

4.2. Publications:

  • Policy paper 'Kaliningrad: Russian Outpost or Window on Europe?' (the final version to be available at my website) (in English).
  • Joenniemi, Pertti, Sergounin, Alexander, Russia and EU's Northern Dimension: Encounter or Clash of Civilizations? (Nizhny Novgorod Linguistic University Press, 2003), 452 p. (in English).
  • Sergounin, Alexander, 'Russian Strategy in the Baltic Sea Area: From Damage Limitation to a Co-operative Model', In: Nordeuropa-forum, 2003, no. 1, pp. 55-83 (in English).
  • Sergounin, Alexander, 'Transformation of 'hard' security in the Baltic Sea Region', In: Christian Wellmann and Hanne-Margret Birckenback (eds.), The Kaliningrad Challenge (Hamburg: Lit, 2003) (in English).
  • Sergounin, Alexander, 'Russia and the EU's Northern Dimension', In: Russian Expert Review, 2003 <http://www.rusrev.org/BlazeServer/page.jsp?pk=node_ 1065175513896> (in English).
  • Sergounin, Alexander, 'Encouraging the EU-Russia Dialogue on Kaliningrad: Problems and Opportunities', In: New Security Challenges as Challenges to Peace Research, 16th Nordic and 4th Baltic Peace Research Convention, September 2003, St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg University, 2003 (in English).
  • Sergounin, Alexander, 'EU's Eastern and Northern Dimensions: Comparative Analysis', In: Philip Kazin and Vladimir Kuznetsov (eds.), EU's Eastern Dimension and Russia (St. Petersburg: Center for Integration Research & Programs, 2004), pp. 66-69 (in Russian).
  • Sergounin, Alexander, Kaliningrad in the Context of EU's Northern Dimension, Proceedings of the 3rd Convention of the Russian Political Science Association, Moscow, April 2003 (forthcoming) (in Russian).
  • Wolffsen, Poul, Sergounin, Alexander, Kaliningrad: A Russian Exclave or 'Pilot Region'? (Nizhny Novgorod Linguistic University Press, 2004) (book in print) (in English).

4.3. Teaching:

I used the Kaliningrad case in the following courses taught in the fall semester 2003 (Nizhny Novgorod Linguistic University):

  • Russia's Current Foreign Policy
  • International Security
  • World Political Economy, and
  • Modern Diplomacy

I've also served as an adviser to one Ph.D. and two undergraduate students who wrote either theses or term papers on the EU's Northern Dimension initiative.