Societal Security in the Baltic Sea Region

Research output

Complete citation

Poljarevic, Emin. Societal Security in the Baltic Sea Region: Regional Efforts to Combat Organized Crime and Narcotics Smuggling. Silk Road Paper. Washington, DC, and Uppsala: Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, 2006. 56 pp. ISBN 91-85473-07-3.

Status

Published (2006)

Publication type

Research and policy report

Overview

This report analyses organised crime and narcotics smuggling as transnational threats to societal and human security in the Baltic Sea region. Drawing on workshops with law-enforcement officials and researchers from Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, it compares criminal patterns, institutional capacities, legal frameworks, and forms of regional cooperation. The study shows how post-Soviet political and economic transitions created vulnerabilities that adaptable criminal networks could exploit, particularly through trafficking, corruption, and money laundering. It then evaluates counter-narcotics structures and proposes a regional strategy centred on legal harmonisation, intelligence exchange, financial investigation, prosecutorial coordination, and sustained expert assessment. Its contribution is to move the analysis beyond nationally bounded enforcement by showing that transnational criminal networks require institutionalised cooperation across political, administrative, and operational levels.

Research question or central concern

How can Baltic Sea states strengthen regional cooperation against organised crime and narcotics smuggling that operate across national jurisdictions?

Main argument, approach, and contribution

The report combines comparative policy analysis, workshop evidence, and law-enforcement expertise. It argues that national measures remain insufficient without harmonised legislation, systematic intelligence sharing, stronger financial investigation, and permanent regional coordination. Its contribution is a practical framework linking societal-security analysis to institutional strategy.

Keywords

Baltic Sea region; societal security; organised crime; narcotics trafficking; money laundering; regional cooperation; law enforcement