Suchergebnisse

This article analyses the principal complex
of economic and political motivations of the
states of Central and Eastern Europe and the
EU members related to the EU enlargement
towards the East. Special attention is paid to
the discussion on the reasonableness of the EU
enlargement and the positions of certain EU
members.

The authors consider the core areas of
Lithuanian foreign policy. Special attention is
paid to the adjustment of the major foreign
policy vector, which concentrated earlier on
the cooperation with the United States of
America and strategic partnership with the
Republic of Poland. The article analyses the
attempts of Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaitė
to formulate the so-called «new
foreign policy» based on the multivector approach
to the intergovernmental cooperation.
This research is timely because of an increasing
influence of small states on foreign
policy decision-making within the European
Union. It emphasizes the need to analyse foreign
policy priorities of the Baltic States and
Central and Eastern European countries and
to identify the dominant trends in the international
policy in the region in order to forecast
further development at European and global
levels. This objective is achieved with the help
of an integrated approach with elements of
interdisciplinary research. Special attention
is paid to the comparative-historical approach,
which facilitates the analysis of the
relations between the Republic of Lithuania
and the neighbouring states and its principal
partners. Alongside traditional methods of
historical research, this work employs such
methods as participant observation, content
and event analysis, and simultaneous and
comparative analysis.
The research and practical significance
of this work is explained by its emphasis on
the need to apply an additional theoretical
framework to studies into the foreign policy
initiatives of the Republic of Lithuania in the
international arena. While earlier they were
determined by the value (democratic approach),
which was a reflection of American
realism, today an increasingly important factor
is the personality of the president, who
does not always positively influence the changing
policy of the country. The results of the
research contribute substantially to the understanding
of foreign policy processes taking
place in Lithuania and the region in general.