The Baltic Sea Region has become a key arena of geopolitical, demographic and security change. Russia鈥檚 war against Ukraine, NATO鈥檚 strengthened presence, changing military arrangements, new migration patterns and growing concerns about hybrid threats have transformed the political and social environment in which minority communities live. Migration and resulting changes in social and identity landscapes interact with existing minority dynamics and may create new challenges for social cohesion and state resilience, particularly where they intersect with perceptions of democratic deficit and political exclusion among younger generations.
This panel examines how geopolitical and demographic transformations reshape relations between states and minority communities in the Baltic Sea Region. It considers minorities and migrant communities as both affected by changing political and security dynamics and active communities responding to them. We focus on how migration, identity change and security concerns influence state policies, institutional practices, public perceptions and social cohesion, as well as how communities interpret these transformations and develop strategies of adaptation and resilience.
The panel asks: How do migration and changing security environments affect minority identities and community life? How do new demographic and identity dynamics influence relations between majority and minority populations? How are minorities and migrant communities perceived by state and security institutions? When and why do migration or minority issues become securitised, and with what consequences for social cohesion and minority鈥搒tate relations? How do these transformations affect state resilience and democratic stability?
We invite comparative and case-based contributions from across the Baltic Sea Region. Papers may address migration, minority policies, security institutions, intelligence, public discourse, identity, democratic participation, social cohesion or resilience, using qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods.
The panel connects minority studies, migration and identity politics, and security studies. Rather than viewing minorities and migrants solely as objects of state policy or potential security concerns, it approaches them as communities whose identities, perceptions and strategies are shaped by changing political, demographic and security environments, while also considering how their responses affect state鈥搒ociety relations and the resilience of democratic states.
