Factors of European Integration and Geopolitical Positioning in Formation of the Baltic states Foreign Policies in 1991-2014
The article analyzes the role of a group of factors related to the determination of Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian position in relation to each other, as well as to the international processes of European politics of the historical period of 1991-2014 in the formation of their foreign policy. The author establishes that the factor of European integration started to determine the policy of Baltic states towards their neighbours yet in times of their preparartion for the EU accession. The factor of Baltic positioning as “small states” contributed to the securitization of the western vectors of their foreign policy. And the factor of "Baltic unity" was largely based on stereotypes formed during the struggle for Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian independence and gradually lost its significance as they were integrating into the EU and the NATO.