Publication

This brief discusses the factors that shaped the security policies of the Baltic States in the 1990s. The author examines the interaction - and often contradiction - between declared security goals and implemented polices. He distinguishes between two periods in the development of Baltic security policies: an initial phase of nation building, characterized by conflicting views on the role of the armed forces; and a second phase, in which national security policy was driven by the desire to join NATO. The author concludes that common neo-realist, institutionalist, or constructivist approaches fail to account for Baltic security conceptions and the build-up of armed forces. Rather, the latter are best explained by examining the needs and interests of the post-Soviet security establishment.