Suchergebnisse

This article approaches the Romanian foreign policy stakes in the aftermath of the Stalingrad Battle as seen from the perspective of a comrade-in-arms country, Finland, which shared with Romania many of the assumptions, fears and anxieties with regard to the outcome of the war. The article is shaped in Stephen M. Walt's understanding of balancing and bandwagoning, Romania and Finland choosing Germany over the Soviet Union mainly for the reason that the latter was perceived as the biggest security threat and the former as the only possible deterrent and support. The material focuses on the analysis of Eduard Hjalmar Palin's diplomatic dispatches from Bucharest. On one hand, they were the main source of information for the Finnish decision-makers with regard to the Romanian international situation and its foreign and domestic policies. On other hand, Palin was an experienced diplomat, with excellent connections in the Romanian society and enjoyed access to confidential information in the governmental circles due to a Romanian-Finnish agreement of summer of 1941. We can see, for instances, cases when Ion and Mihai Antonescu confided to the Finnish envoy Führer Adolf Hitler's statements which could affect the situation in Finland or help its leaders to take decisions. The article shows how divided Romanian governmental and opposition circles were, not only between but also among themselves. By reading these diplomatic reports, we could also acknowledge the widening split between the views of the two most prominent Romanian governmental leaders, Ion and Mihai Antonescu, thus complementing other sources of information already published. We can also learn about some peace plans of Romanian opposition groups, some of whom are little known from other documentary sources.

A large part of the articles published in the current issue of Revista Română de Studii Baltice şi Nordice / The Romanian Journal for Baltic and Nordic Studies have been initially presented at the Fourth International Conference on Baltic and Nordic Studies in Romania: Empire-Building and Region-Building in the Baltic, North and Black Sea areas held at Ovidius University Of Constanța in May 2013. The conference approached the North in the wider perspective of regional cooperation intra- and extra-Nordic muros. The North is regarded as a springboard of regional cooperation which has a strong though faltering historical and cultural background and an obvious European dimension. The downfall of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the process of European integration (whether some of the Nordic countries belong to the EU or not, they are all part and parcel of the process and deeply affected by it) have encouraged the development of regional cooperation in Northern Europe. Belonging to the Northern dimension of the EU meant not only maintaining a regional identity with deep roots in history and culture and making the others acknowledge it, but also strengthening the influence of Nordic countries within and outside the EU and fostering other regional cooperation initiatives in the Baltic Sea area and outside it. Patterned on the Nordic regional cooperation, the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia strengthened their regional cooperation and envisaged deepening their ties to surrounding areas, especially with the Nordic countries. Alongside the Nordic countries, they also gradually turned into a model for the Danubian and Black Sea countries. In this respect, the conference addressed themes such as: the empire building, region-building, national/nationalist, cultural construction discourses present in these regions; the historic development of these regional initiatives and/or organizations and the relations between them; political, cultural and diplomatic relations between Baltic and/or Nordic states, on the one hand, and the Black Sea countries, on the other hand; the relations between the EU integration and different Baltic, North and Black Sea regional structures; education and leadership in the context of regionalization in the Baltic Sea and Black Sea areas; linguistic unity and diversity in Scandinavia and the Baltic states; Nordic and Baltic identity through cultural diversity; water protection in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea Region and the role of agriculture; inter- and intra-regional comparisons.

Revista Română pentru Studii Baltice şi Nordice / The Romanian Journal of Baltic and Nordic Studies (RRSBN) continues the publication in this issue of a series of studies which have been presented at the annual conference on Baltic and Nordic Studies in Romania. These articles approach topics related to the relations and encounters between Black Sea and the Baltic Sea areas or various developments in the Baltic Sea region during the 20th century.

The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies continued to organize in 2012 a series of events, one of the most meaningful of which was the third international conference on Baltic and Nordic Studies entitled European networks: the Balkans, Scandinavia and the Baltic world in a time of economic and ideological crisis opened on 25 May at Valahia University of Târgoviște and sponsored by the Romanian National Research Council, Niro Investment Group and other partners (http://www.arsbn.ro/conference-2012.htm). The main goal of the conference was to foster debate and academic discussion with regard to the challenges the Balkan and Baltic regions face today, within a time of severe global economic instability. The participants discussed and advanced solutions to problems such as the accession of Balkan states to the EU and/or NATO, with particular reference to the experiences of the relatively new EU and/or NATO Member States from South-Eastern Europe and the Eastern Baltic region; the economic, security or cultural threats posed by Balkan and/or Eastern European states or non-state actors to the Western or Nordic Europe as perceived there; the development of extremist movements and the Balkan organized crime in the Scandinavian countries; the Balkan Roma peoples as a "threat" for Western and Nordic Europe; strategies for integrating minorities in the Baltic Sea rim countries and the Black Sea areas.

Revista Română pentru Studii Baltice şi Nordice / The Romanian Journal of Baltic and Nordic Studies (RRSBN) gathers in this issue contributions based on new documentary sources and interpretations concerning the area it investigates, i.e. the Baltic and Nordic Sea area, and the relations and contacts between this region and its Black Sea match. The fascinating ethnic and cultural diversity of the area, the contacts between distant European lands, the perceptions of "the other" are topics approached from different angles and brought before the judgment of the public and the community of fellow researchers.

The current issue of Revista Română pentru Studii Baltice şi Nordice / The Romanian Journal of Baltic and Nordic Studies (RRSBN) continues the publication of selected papers presented at the second international conference for Baltic and Nordic Studies in Romania entitled Black Sea and Baltic Sea Regions: Confluences, influences and crosscurrents in the modern and contemporary ages, an event which was organized under the aegis of the Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies with the support of the embassies of Finland, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden in Romania, of the Consulate of Latvia, of Valahia University of Târgovişte, of the City Hall of Târgovişte, of the The Princely Court National Museum Complex of Târgovişte and of Cetatea de Scaun Publishing House and of the respected companies Niro Investment Group and Arvi Agro SRL.

This issue of Revista Română pentru Studii Baltice şi Nordice [The Romanian Journal of Baltic and Nordic Studies, RRSBN] carries selected papers presented in approximately half of the panels of the second international conference for Baltic and Nordic Studies in Romania entitled Black Sea and Baltic Sea Regions: Confluences, influences and crosscurrents in the modern and contemporary ages. The general aim of this conference was to investigate the encounters between the Baltic and the Black Sea regions' societies since the Middle Ages. The goal was to unearth the complexity of these bonds not only at state level (political, diplomatic, military, trade relations), but also the encounters, forms of syncretism or networks of a commercial, social, cultural, religious nature which are beyond or beneath the state relations and are presumably not only richer, but more interesting and challenging for a researcher as well. Additionally, parallels between the two regions as two buffer zones situated in-between the great empires or great powers of modernity were also assessed. Papers dealing with the effects of world wars, totalitarianism and the Cold War either as comparative approach or in terms of relations, confluences and influences were also invited. Furthermore, the conference also welcomed research results dealing with diasporas, émigré communities or individual destinies in the frame of the general theme of the conference. As such, this conference constituted a real change of research paradigm, relatively little having been previously achieved in this respect. The results of the conference as the two issues of our review will prove were notable.

This study describes the relationship between two small and lesser states joining the German attack against Soviet Union in an attempt to recapture the territories lost to Soviet Union in 1940. It is conceived as an in-depth analysis of the Romanian-Finnish relations based on the criticism of archival sources discovered in the Romanian, Finnish and British archives. Becoming "allies without alliance" almost overnight, the relations between the two countries acknowledged a quick shift from low profile bonds to an agreement based on a combination of balance of power and joint action. The aim was to remove the threat Russia was posing to the two countries and to increase their influence at a peace conference to be open following the expected defeat of their big neighbour. Romania was the advocate of closer ties between the two countries keeping in line with its search for influence rather than autonomy in its foreign relations, while Finland was more prudent consistent with its choice for autonomy rather than influence.

One of the most original Lithuanian philosophers, Arvydas Sliogeris, approached in his works the dichotomy of humanism versus hominism. While humanism means, above all, the placing of man and human values at the head of the triangle, ethics, truth, fidelity, hominism, as Sliogeris defines it, is but the unauthentic, anonymous, uniform life, and also the aggressive, devouring, destructive attitude towards world and fellow men. According to the Lithuanian thinker, the ultimate result of hominism is represented by totalitarian ideologies and socio-political systems that destroy the human values.

This issue of Revista Română pentru Studii Baltice şi Nordice [The Romanian Journal of Baltic and Nordic Studies, RRSBN] crowns a year of steady progress in terms of number and quality of the programs and actions run by The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies (ARSBN). The highlights of this year have been the first international conference for Baltic and Nordic Studies in Romania entitled Romania and Lithuania in the Interwar International Relations: Bonds, Intersections and Encounters, the opening of the exhibition dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the Romanian-Finnish diplomatic relations (exhibition which has travelled since its first opening about 850 miles) and of the first Lithuanian exhibition displayed in a Romanian art gallery and the awarding of the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of Valahia University to Dr. Vladimir Jarmolenko, the Ambassador of Lithuania to Bucharest and Honorary Chairman of our Association. Besides, the members of the Association have been involved in research whose results have been disseminated in books, international and national conferences, thus contributing to the spreading of knowledge and the encouragement of debates on subjects close to its aims.
The second issue of RRSBN also brings a novelty in the meaning that 2010 is the first year when the journal is published biannually as it will appear henceforth. Having been projected at the end of 2008, its first volume was published in November 2009.
The articles published in this issue bring forth new documentary evidences and fresh interpretations upon a variety of topics regarding the history, the history of international relations or the history of commercial bonds of Baltic and Nordic European nations, in some cases in connection to the developments in the Black Sea area.
In spite of the array of topics, some sections can be however distinguished. The first one encompasses the two articles signed by Costel Coroban and Veniamin Ciobanu regarding the role of Sweden in the international relations at the beginning of the 18th and of the 19th centuries when this power had to cope with its declining role in the international relations. After its defeat in the Battle of Poltava, Sweden gradually came to be regarded as the minor actor in the international diplomatic game in comparison with its more powerful neighbors of Britain, Russia or Napoleon's France. The first article describes how Sweden tried to rise again to the status of Great Power with the financial support of the Jacobites and what were the international implications of the plot in which Swedish emissaries have allowed themselves to be engaged in Britain. Integrating a number of nine important archival documents, the second article proves the wide interest of Sweden regarding the international circumstances leading to the downfall of Imperial France in its attempt to adopt a wise foreign policy to compensate through the annexation of Norway for the loss of Finland to Tsarist Russia in 1809. Thus, Sweden was also looking to the developments of the Eastern Question and to the policies of Britain, France and Russia with regard to the Ottoman Empire.

The book represents one of the most authoritative responses to Romania's long-term failures to overcome underdevelopment and, by virtue of examples it offers, the possibilities and choices it has to take the EU country in order to fully integrate into the European family. The case of Denmark and the differences between the two countries over the past a few centuries is again brought into discussion by the author of this book after a recent series of articles and a Ph.D. paper dedicated to the relations and reciprocal perceptions of the two countries by Oana Lăculiceanu-Popescu.

In 1933 Nicolae Titulescu, widely regarded as the main driving force behind many of Romania's decisions in the field of foreign affairs for a decade and a half, started to ponder about the idea of opening a diplomatic representation of Romania in Kaunas. Reasons such as the necessity of advancing Romania and the Little Entente's interests in the area, the usefulness of gaining access to information about Soviet Union circulating in the area and the importance of the geopolitical location of Lithuania at the intersection of Soviet, German and Polish interests were offered by the Romanian envoy to Riga to convince Titulescu. Yet, only in late 1935 and early 1936 was the decision being implemented and Constantin Văllimărescu was appointed to represent his country in Lithuania's temporary capital. This paper analysis these new evolutions in the Romanian-Lithuanian relations and the reasons behind them and approaches the diplomatic relations between the two countries in mid-1930s.

The outcome of a Ph.D. work defended in the "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iassy, the book published by the prestigious Romanian Printing House "Junimea" represents a fresh investigation into the aims of British diplomacy in what was termed at the beginning of 1920s by some authors the "cordon sanitaire" area surrounding Soviet Union. In contrast to Elisabeth Barker[1], Patrick Salmon[2] and Anita Prazmowska[3]'s monographs or to my comparative research facilitated by Glasgow University based mostly on British archival documents and focused on the British policy on Romania, Finland and Estonia (March 1939-March 1940)[4], Bogdan Alexandru Schipor deals with the British policy in the entire area from Helsinki to Bucharest and approaches the period 1938-1941, i.e. from the Anschluss to the "vanishing" of the states of this area or to their relegation to a status of dependency on Germany. The author is a researcher in the "A.D. Xenopol" Institute of History of the Romanian Academy and teaches university courses at the "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iassy, while also being the chairman of the Section for Nordic Studies of the Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies.

The Romanian Journal for Baltic and Nordic Studies combines the publication of scientific articles highlighting issues of identity, memory, culture, translation and economy of the Nordic and Baltic area with an educational section featuring the innovative syllabi of disciplines to be taught at the summer school of Nordic and Baltic Studies, which is the core of the project "A piece of culture, a culture of peace" (CoolPeace), and a corpus of scientific articles. The project is financed under the measure "inter-institutional cooperation projects" of the EEA grants and is intended to strengthen the institutional cooperation at the level of higher education sector between all the partners involved: Valahia University of Târgoviște as the Project Promoter, the University of Agder, the University of Oslo, the Embassy of Lithuania in Romania, Peace Action Training and Research Institute of Romania and the Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies. The Programme Operator of the EEA Scholarship Programme in Romania is ANPCDEFP (the National Agency for Community Programmes in the Field of Education and Vocational Training). The embassies of Finland, Norway and Sweden in Romania are cultural partners in this endeavour.

Volume 6, issue no. 2 (2014) of Revista Română de Studii Baltice și Nordice / The Romanian Journal for Baltic and Nordic Studies is dedicated to the publication of selected papers of Fifth annual international conference on Baltic and Nordic Studies in Romania: A piece of culture, a culture of peace, re-imaging European communities in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Black Sea regions, which was held in Târgoviște, Romania, between 17-19 August 2014, as part of the project "A piece of culture, a culture of peace" (CoolPeace) and a follow-up to the summer school of Nordic and Baltic Studies. Financed under the measure "inter-institutional cooperation projects" of the EEA grants, the project was designed to strengthen the institutional cooperation at the level of higher education sector between all the partners involved: Valahia University of Târgoviște as the Project Promoter, the University of Agder, the University of Oslo, the Embassy of Lithuania in Romania, Peace Action Training and Research Institute of Romania and the Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies. The Programme Operator of the EEA Scholarship Programme in Romania is ANPCDEFP (the National Agency for Community Programmes in the Field of Education and Vocational Training). The embassies of Finland and Norway in Romania were cultural partners in this endeavour.
The aim of the conference was to investigate various types of potential conventional and non-conventional threats in Europe which could emerge from poverty, exclusion, competition for resources, weak institutions, ideological views, perceptions of the other or lack of knowledge about the other. Our continent also seems under constant (perceived) threats related to terrorism, energy, Russia's relations with Europe or weapons of mass destructions. Despite many difficulties and constraints, there is justified hope to move from a culture of (perceived) threat to a culture of peace. While politicians stress that one should be prepared to respond to threats and security challenges, and that society should not make the fatal mistake of minimizing the many (potential) dangers that Europe faces today, scientists, artists, historians, linguists etc. argue that peace can and should be preserved through collaboration with the other, through promoting knowledge about the other, through the study of past experiences, through promoting pieces of the other's culture.
This conference focused on intercultural dialogue and forms of cooperation between state and non-state entities, between intra-cultural entities, between different communities.