Shaking hands under the Baltic Sea

In this thesis I inquire into the Baltic Sea region. I firstly determine which countries are representing the area in this study. I focus on the character of the relations among the states in the area. In particular I aim at characterizing the peculiar social structure that is present in the Baltic Sea region. The study is framed by the constructivist understanding of the relations among states as shaped by common norms, rules and values. In order to inquire into the Baltic Sea region this study uses the set of concepts of the English School. In particular the region is defined and discussed with the help of the structural English School concept of the international society. Such a concept is used to discuss and interpret the political dynamics expressed as narratives. The thesis is designed to revolve around a study case, the Nord Stream pipeline. The construction of the Nord Stream is an offshore gas pipeline which is meant to be constructed from Russia to Germany. As for its dimensions and for its costs, related to the offshore route, the pipeline raised numerous debates. The officials of the countries belonging to the region express, via declarations or speeches about the pipeline, not only their opinions but what they share and what they don’t, with the other representatives of the countries. I develop my narrative analysis on such speeches. The theoretical framework of this study is directly drawn from Barry Buzan’s structural English School. In his variant of the English School the dynamics among political units can be summed up with a triptych whose pillars are defined on actor-hood. The pillars are the interstate domain, the transnational domain and the interhuman domain. I mainly draw from the interstate domain to characterize the interplay among the three pillars, which is described in the concept of the international society. In order to so I gather texts and declarations from the officials of the region. These declarations concern the Nord Stream pipeline and its construction. The main finding of this study is a definition of the regional dynamics of the Baltic Sea within the spectrum of pluralist and solidarist features. The determination of the unique mixture of those features is done together with a discussion about the interplay of the social forces within the legal and political set established by the states. The international society of the Baltic Sea region appears to be stronger in the primary institutions of the environment and of the market. The solidarist developments in these two institutions are though linked to other similar developments in the primary institution of the international law and energy prosperity. Surprisingly, this study points out how the main pluralist features derive from the international character of the European Union. This study contributes to the scientific debates on the Baltic Sea area for two reasons: a) it applies the set of concepts from the English School to a geographically limited area and by doing so, aims at fulfilling an analytical gap; b) it widens the set of discourses on the political dynamics of the Baltic Sea area by introducing the perspective of the structural English School. Asiasanat:English School, International Society, Nord Stream pipelin