Baltoscandia

Baltoscandia or the Baltoscandian Confederation is a geopolitical concept of a Baltic–Scandinavian (Nordic) union comprising Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden.^[1] The idea was proposed by a Swedish Professor Sten de Geer (1886–1933) in the journal Geografiska Annaler in 1928 and further developed by Professor Kazys Pakštas^[2][3] (1893–1960), a Lithuanian scientist in the field of geography and geopolitics.

Location of the Baltic states and the Nordic countries:

  Baltic states

  Nordic countries

Language branches in Northern Europe

  Baltic (Latvia and Lithuania)

  Finnic (Estonia and Finland)

  North Germanic (Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden)

Development of the concept

Pakštas states in his book The Baltoscandian Confederation that the term Baltoscandia was first used by Sten de Geer in an article in "Geografiska Annaler" in 1928.^[4] In this book Baltoscandia is described in several different dimensions: as a geographical and cultural, as an economic and as a political and military unit.^[5] Kazys Pakštas proposed that one of the ways for the small nations to withstand the influence coming from the large ones is to unite and to cooperate more closely among each other. As he mentions, unification is possible only among nations that are similar by their size, geographical environment, religion, also they have to respect and to tolerate each other.

As the foreign policy of Lithuania has shifted towards Northern Europe even more after Dalia Grybauskaitė came into post of the President of Lithuania,^[6] voices questioning the return of the Baltoscandian Confederation idea are on the rise in this country.^[7]

Advocacy

For almost 20 years, the Academy of Baltoscandia (Baltoskandijos akademija) functioned in Panevėžys, Lithuania. It was founded on 17 November 1991 as the institute of science researches which regularly organizes arrangements dealing with Baltic and Scandinavian cultural, historical and political contacts. Its main aims were to "develop versatile links of the lands and nations in the region of Baltoscandia and to integrate the culture of Lithuania into the cultural space of Baltoscandia".^[8] The academy was liquidated at the end of 2009 because of funding-related problems. The funding was provided by the Panevėžys city municipality, but the functions of the academy did not meet the criteria of the functions of the mentioned municipality.

Other terms

Euler diagram indicating Baltoscandia among other subregions of Northern Europe

The Nordic-Baltic Eight or NB8, where 8 stands for the number of countries (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden).

See also

• Baltic region
• Fennoscandia
• Nordic countries
• Nordic Estonia
• Nordic Investment Bank

References

1. "SCAND 344: The Baltic States and Scandinavia, Spring 2002". Archived from the original on 25 October 2003. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
2. "What is Baltoscandia? | Misija Lietuva 100". Archived from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
3. Pakštas, Kazys. "The Baltoscandian Confederation" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 September 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
4. "SCAND 344: The Baltic States and Scandinavia, Spring 2002". Archived from the original on 25 October 2003. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
5. The Concept of Baltoscandia according to Kazys Pakstas before the war and now Archived 12 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine (in Lithuanian)
6. "Alfa.lt". www.alfa.lt. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
7. Back to Baltoscandia? Archived 17 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine (in Lithuanian)
8. "Politicians have closed the Academy of Baltoscandia". Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2010.