Security challenges in the Baltic Sea region

DIIS has initiated a new project focusing new research on the security challenges in the Baltic Sea region, while also gathering the existing knowledge by establishing a network of scholars and practitioners within the field. The aim of the project is to provide deeper knowledge for academia and policy makers on a topic with rising importance for not only the Baltic Sea region itself but also for European security.

The security situation in the Baltic Sea region is changing drastically. Confidence-measures has been cancelled, the political rhetoric has become more confrontational, the number and scope of military exercises has grown considerably and new weapon systems are being considered or has already been installed. The region experiences a a higher degree of tension than in the positive and peaceful first decades following the end of the Cold War.

Simultaneously, the security development in neighbouring regions is also unclear and unsettled. There is rising tension regarding the question of the Arctic, and to the south the situation is complicated by civil war, the refugee crisis and a divided European Union. The development in these neighbouring regions can potentially have an impact on the Baltic Sea region and the defence- and security policies of the region’s states.

The overall situation both inside and outside the Baltic Sea region underlines the need for a renewed focus on the security issues in the area. The main aim of the project is to stimulate a broad national and international debate through scientific networks and studies of how political, economic, social and military conditions influences the security development in the region. The project aims at gathering the existing knowlegde as well as providing deeper insight through new research.