The Baltic states, namely Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, face significant security challenges stemming from their complex geopolitical position at the crossroads of Western Europe and Russia. These countries, marked by Soviet occupation and nowadays by Russia's ongoing imperialist ambitions, have created a number of security policies and strategies to protect their national security and sovereignty. Based on the main research question, the thesis identifies how the Baltic states, as member states of the European Union (EU) and former Soviet republics, are formulating their security doctrines through the prism of securitisation, norms and identity. The theoretical framework aims at conceptualising the security doctrine and the three aforementioned elements. While the historical background of the Baltic states vis-à-vis Russia offers an insight into the complexity of Baltic-Russian relations. The empirical research, supported by primary source analysis and analysis of speeches by key state actors, examines the impact of the individual elements on the formulation of the doctrine and the positioning of the Baltic states in the broader context at the EU level. The analysis shows that securitisation plays an important role in shaping the security doctrine of the Baltic states, driven by a sense of urgency to tackle the main security threat posed by Russia, even if the threat is not necessarily a direct one. This is further reinforced by their commitment to democracy, human rights and international law as established norms, whilst the protection of the Russian minority remains a concern particularly in Estonia and Latvia. The existence of an identity at the individual and collective level further contributes to the development of the security doctrine.
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