Exclavity under globalization. Selected works

Rossiyskiy eksklav: preodolenie konfliktogennosty

challenge to relations between Russia and the West to which an adequate response has to be found. And this response should be found in the development of mutually beneficial cooperation, in the course of which the Kaliningrad region would acquire greater significance for both parties. Otherwise the region’s proneness to conflict, although latent at present, could cause an escalation of the existing contradictions and become an open conflict, the resolution of which would require great effort.

It is primarily areas where the conflicting interests of several actors (both international and domestic) overlap that become objects of international conflicts. Enclaves (exclaves) occupy a special position among them. The very position of these areas outside their “native” states, being completely or partially surrounded by foreign states, determines their increased potential for conflict. A clash of interests can arise both because of the access to the exclave and because of its belonging to a particular state, as well as for various economic and social reasons. It is important now to discover these reasons, to determine the interests of the parties, and if necessary to institutionalize their relationships as regards the reason for the conflict and to outline measures that would prevent its escalation.

Exclavity as a factor determining all the main problems, relating to the functioning and development of the Kaliningrad region, has not been fully comprehended yet. The focus of discussions has been the issues of transit via the territories of foreign states when travelling between the region and mainland Russia. Of similar importance are internal and foreign policy issues, as well as the sociocultural issues of the development of the Russian exclave in the Baltic Sea region.

An exclave is a “pure” region in which different definitions of the region as a socio-territorial phenomenon coincide. With the exclave area we have a unique case of a region-state-international socio-economic system of functioning of people/community under the conditions when a set of issues of the global development is becoming important for the region. The problems of the present Kaliningrad region, in particular, are the asymmetries of economic

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development, environmental degradation, social differentiation, problems associated with multi-level coordination of interests, problems of transactions and external influences, the issues of attracting and efficiently utilizing investment, etc.

It should be noted that the territory of the present Kaliningrad region had been an exclave for centuries, long before it became the Kaliningrad region, and quite acute political conflicts developed here including some that led to war. The negative historical experience of conflict escalation (first of all, in the relationships between Germany and Poland) should be born in mind when we consider the functioning of the Kaliningrad economy and Russian transit via the territory of Lithuania.

The Kaliningrad region fundamentally stands out among all the entities of the Russian Federation. But some people believe that the Kaliningrad region can be regarded as many suburban areas of Russia (such as Sakhalin, Kamchatka, etc.) and it is proposed that a special document regarding them be elaborated. But remoteness and exclavity are different categories. The inhabitants of Kamchatka do not need permission from foreign states to travel to the “continent”. Here international conflicts connected with passenger and cargo transit do not arise, although the state does have to pay higher salaries.

Remoteness is an economic category, while exclavity is a political one. For this reason not only is a special economic regime necessary for the Kaliningrad region (that is provided for at present by the law on the SEZ), but also special organization of the region’s administration, federal policy regarding the region, and international agreement on the conditions of the region’s functioning. That is, the approach to resolving the problems of functioning and development of the exclave Russian region should be more comprehensive, considering the whole diversity of interests that overlap here – all-Russian, regional and international ones.

Both strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities for and the threats to the region’s development are directly or indirectly connected with the region’s exclavity. Exclavity is not only a drawback, but also an important resource for the regional devel-

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Rossiyskiy eksklav: preodolenie konfliktogennosty

opment, though the use of this specific resource requires considerable effort.

In the economic sense exclavity means certain isolation of the region from the all-Russian economic space. Thus, unlike the other entities of the Federation, in order to export goods produced in the region it is necessary to make an expert examination to determine whether the goods have actually been produced here and not imported. There is a fixed rate of added value for acknowledging goods as produced in the region (if imported raw materials and components are used for their production): 30% for most goods, 15% for electronics and household appliances. It is also necessary to change the code of the goods in the customs classification.

Other important specific aspects of the regional economic development are closer production links of enterprises with foreign markets, an increased share of imported goods on the local market.

The social aspects are connected with the specificity of the Kaliningrad socium. This specificity is partially conditioned by demographic factors – by the migratory character of the region’s population, the important role of migration (including migration from the CIS countries) in the formation of the present population. Voluntary migration, the influx since the beginning of the 1990s of more than 300,000 migrants from other Russian regions and the CIS states, greatly affected the stability of the Kaliningrad socium, which even earlier had not been firmly rooted (approximately 60% of the region’s population was born elsewhere). This in turn resulted in the absence of the regional elite, thus hampering elaboration and implementation of a regional development strategy.

But perhaps it is the exclave character of the region that is of utmost significance – the spatial separation from the main part of the Russian population, on the one hand, and the proximity to areas populated by Poles and Lithuanians, on the other hand. Contact with Russia is difficult, whereas it is quite easy with foreign countries, although it has become more difficult recently. In the consciousness of the population, especially recently, an exclave syndrome has emerged, a concern about the spatial isolation of the region both from Russia and from its neighbours (following their accession to the EU).

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The ecological peculiarities are associated not only with the need to take into consideration the requirements of the international agreements on the Baltic Sea protection. The ecological standards of the EU set heightened requirements for vehicles, providing not only for freight but also for passenger transport between the region and the mainland Russia.

The geopolitical factors are connected with the role of the region in ensuring the defensive interests of the Russian Federation in the Baltic Sea region, with the development of relations between Russia and NATO, Russia and the Baltic Sea states and the EU.

Study of the world experience of the development of exclave areas shows that they, in fact, have two ways of developing in the globalizing world, i.e. (self-imposed) isolation, on the one hand, or integration, i.e. getting involved in global processes, on the other. It is clear that isolation is a dead-end approach that can only aggravate the severity of the exclave position. However, integration does not imply the exclave’s “dissolution” within a certain global community. It should involve the establishment of a new balance of interests between the “mother” states, the exclave region itself, the states concerned and the new global actors (TNCs, intergovernmental and non-state organizations, etc.).

The Kaliningrad region is not an exception to the general pattern of exclaves’ development. That is why it is the involvement of its economy and the social sphere into the processes of globalization characteristic of the Baltic Sea region that seems the only possibility to ensure conditions for the sustainable and dynamic development of the region.

Since 1991 the regime of the Free (since 1996 of the Special) Economic Zone has been in force in the Kaliningrad region. Its main component is the free customs zone on the territory of the whole region. In spite of all its drawbacks, the regime ensured not only the survival of the region’s economy in 1992-1998, and since 1999 the rapid growth of import-substitution production, tourism, trade, construction, but it has also fostered faster development of market relationships and the region’s involvement in the process of globalization. At the same time, the SEZ regime gives rise to a

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Rossiyskiy eksklav: preodolenie konfliktogennosty

conflict of federal and regional interests, of interests between producers from the other Russian regions and the Kaliningrad region. Thus, the potential for conflict of the region is determined not only by its exclavity, but also by the presence of the “zonal” mechanism (the existence of which can largely be explained by the exclavity).

The object of the conflict is the territory of the Kaliningrad region, located at the intersection of interests of the Baltic Sea countries (first of all of Russia, on the one hand, and of Germany, Poland and Lithuania individually). The EU and the CIS (especially the Union state of Russia and Byelorussia) have their own interests. The interests of the TNCs have not been fully discovered yet, but active actors acting for the sake of their own interests are already LUKOIL, RJSC SES, and Russian railways. There are certain contradictions between the interests of the Federation and the region, which are primarily revealed in the discussion of the law on the SEZ in the Kaliningrad region and in the attempts to alter the Federal Special Program “Development of the Kaliningrad region for the period up to 2010”.

When considering the stages of development of the conflict connected with the exclavity of the Kaliningrad region, it should be noted that the entire current conflict is only a part of one that has lasted for centuries, since the area became an exclave. As regards the period that started in 1945, the transfer of the territory from one state to the other without concluding a peace treaty brought about a new potential conflict. The starting point for the conflict was the beginning of the cold war, and settlement of this stage of the conflict ended with the acknowledgement of the inviolability of borders in Europe by means of signing international treaties with the participation of the parties concerned in the early 1970s. Nevertheless, there are actors who are still unsatisfied with the agreements reached and the conflict remains, although currently latent. Besides, the fact that the Kaliningrad region, since its establishment, has been an exclave of the Russian Federation, separated from it by the Baltic Republics, means that a latent conflict remains.

The second stage of the conflict escalation is connected with the boundary of the 1990s, when the Baltic republics became independent. An attempt at political opposition to the escalation of this

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process made by the USSR failed. The culmination of the conflict was the withdrawal of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia from the USSR, followed by the disintegration of the latter. But the conclusion of the conflict had been postponed for quite a long period until the signing and ratification of the treaty between the Russian Federation and Lithuania along with mutual acknowledgement of the borders.

It would seem that a post-conflict situation has set in, and there is time to consider how to avoid a new escalation of the conflict that still remains, although latent at present. But the establishment in the region of the Free (Special) Economic Zone (as an attempt to first overcome the conflict with the declared development of market relationships in the country and the lack of resources for such development, and also in connection with the emergence of contradictions between the Federal Centre and the regions) brought about another pre-conflict situation. We have considered it above when analyzing the history of development of the mechanism of the FEZ – SEZ and its impact on the region’s economy, the relationships between the region and the Federation and foreign states. The culmination of this conflict is the beginning of the consideration of the new draft law on the SEZ in 2004.

Moreover, with EU and NATO enlargement to the east the exclavity of the region intensified. Its culmination has been Lithuania’s accession to NATO and the EU. And this conflict has not ended yet.

Thus, at present by the beginning of 2005, the culmination of two conflicts coincided, of the ‘exclave’ and the ‘zonal’ ones, but the two of them make up a more general single conflict connected with the Kaliningrad region. The conflict which emerged features a high rate of openness since it has been discussed at various levels – from household discussions to international negotiations, and all the aspects are widely covered by the media.

According to the sphere of its development it is a composite conflict – economic, political, intercultural, and even ecological one. It is a multilateral conflict, first of all (by nature of the subjects) an interstate one, but at the same time it is a conflict between the Federation and the region, between the regions, being as well

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an inter-group conflict (between different business groups, population strata).

The specificity of the Kaliningrad conflict alongside other aspects, in our view, lies in the fact that due to the diversity of the parties involved and differences between the strategies implemented by them, it can turn out to be a conflict with either a zero sum or a non-zero sum, and even with a negative sum (if it becomes a violent conflict).

The ‘zonal’ component of the conflict connected with the Kaliningrad region is greatly institutionalized and its resolution is expected along with the improvement in the Russian legislation. At the same time the task is set to stabilize the situation around the region by approving a federal policy regarding the region.

At the same time, the exclave component of the conflict that has to be settled at the international level has not yet been institutionalized. This determines the spontaneity of decision making on constantly emerging problems (visa, transit, etc.). That is why it is very important to conclude a special treaty (agreement) between Russia and the EU on providing for the functioning and development of the Kaliningrad region. The institutionalization of the conflict will foster a compromise approach to its resolution, which seems the only possibility to prevent the re-emergence of antagonism (something that can be easily found in the region’s history).

An integrated approach to the region, taking into considering all the overlapping interests, is necessary in order to overcome the potential for conflict. This involves the elaboration of viable models of sustainable development of the region within the all-Russian political, economic and cultural space, and taking into account the countries surrounding the region. This approach presupposes the elaboration of documents which would establish an institutional basis for the sustainable development of the region:

At the federal level:

Federal policy regarding the Kaliningrad region. The most important components are legislative provision and financial support for the regional development. The corresponding functions are fulfilled at present by the law “On the Special Economic Zone in the

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Kaliningrad Region” and the Federal Special Program (FSP) “Development of the Kaliningrad region for the period till 2010”.

The discussion about the new law on the SEZ (in accordance with which the FSP was adopted), which has been ongoing for several years, shows that consensus on the optimal content is lacking. Besides, the law on the SEZ does not cover the entire range of issues of development of the exclave Russian region within the foreign milieu. Therefore instead of efforts to improve the law on the SEZ, the elaboration and adoption of the law “On the Kaliningrad region” enveloping the whole spectrum of economic, social and political issues of regional development seems to be more promising. Thereby a means of securing federal policy regarding the Kaliningrad region will be found, this function will be performed by a federal law.

At the international level:

A treaty signed by the RF and the EU on conditions of ensuring the functioning and development of the Kaliningrad region as a region of mutual cooperation, as well as conclusion of other agreements and treaties with the Baltic Sea countries and Belarus.

At the regional level:

The improvement of the regional legislation and the elimination of administrative barriers for the development of entrepreneurship.

The implementation of the aforementioned proposals will facilitate the creation of opportunities to enhance the role of the Kaliningrad region in determining a more favourable position for Russia in the globalization process. It is especially important to clearly define the region’s place in the Russian economy. It is advisable to stop regarding the region as only an isolated enclave that requires federal and, according to a number of experts, to an even greater extent international assistance. It is necessary to define the region’s role in the Russian economy, and, in the same way, in economic, cultural and political relations between Russia and the EU, especially in the Baltic Sea region.

In servicing Russian external economic links, the region is at present playing an intermediary role in the relations between the

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RF and foreign countries, especially with the new EU members. To enhance this role it is necessary to further develop production infrastructure (first of all, ports, railways and motorways, transport junctions, border crossing points). A number of measures have been outlined by the Federal Special Program “Development of the Kaliningrad region for the period till 2010”. One drawback is that the implemented measures are badly aligned with the relevant programs of the EU (Eurovision-2010, Via Baltica, Via Hanseatika, the transport corridors program, etc.), as well as with the strategies of development of the Baltica, Saule, and Neman Euroregions. Although the Russian representatives formally participate in the activities of these interstate and interregional international projects, Russia does not actually finance them. This hampers coordinated development of transport networks, which are of great interest to the Russian Federation and to the Kaliningrad region’s neighbours in the Baltic sea region. If the region is considered as a “pilot region” in the expansion of cooperation between Russia and the European Union, which the geographic location of the Kaliningrad exclave favours, it is necessary not only to rapidly develop its production and market infrastructure but also to coordinate this process with its neighbours, as well as to actively participate in the elaboration and implementation of international projects.

This is one of the main preconditions for transforming the region into one of the most promising types of Russian regions – a “corridor of development”. At present we can only consider the preconditions and separate elements of the region’s becoming a region of this type; only a short time ago the real indices of socioeconomic development could serve as a basis for considering the region among the crisis regions in transition.

The region’s specificity as a corridor of development is its exclavity, and namely the fact that the region is located not between other Russian regions but between the Russian and the EU regions. This hampers dissemination of innovations between the Russian regions via the Kaliningrad region. But international innovative flows can be realized via the Kaliningrad region, both from Russian and west European regions. That is why it is possible to a cer-

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tain extent to consider the Kaliningrad region not only among the entities of the RF, but among the European regions cooperating with each other – such as the Euroregion “Baltica”. Within its framework projects of cooperation between the regions of Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and the Kaliningrad region are implemented.

Thus, the problems of ensuring sustainable and dynamic development of the Kaliningrad region as an exclave of the Russian Federation are multifaceted. While the region’s development is a domestic affair, a number of specific issues relating to its functioning emerge. At the same time the region’s neighbours are also interested in preventing any threat of destabilization of the situation in the Baltic sea region coming from the Kaliningrad region.

Taking into account the fact that it is necessary to resolve multi-level problems affecting the political, economic, social and ecological aspects of the region’s development in the all-Russian and, at the same time, in the Baltic space, it is advisable to institutionalize the developing conflict, ensuring its legal resolution at the international, Russian and regional levels. In order to revive and enhance the investment attractiveness of the region, it is necessary to stabilize the mechanism of the Special Economic Zone. On the basis of the Strategy of socioeconomic development of the Kaliningrad region as a region of cooperation, which was adopted in 2003, it is advisable to elaborate a detailed regional programme, stating the aims of the regional development, its sources and priorities, guarantees and benefits to investors, and also to launch a promotion campaign both in other Russian regions and abroad. It is necessary to substantiate a purposeful federal policy regarding the Kaliningrad region and to ensure foreign economic and political conditions for its development by means of concluding a special agreement between the RF and the EU on ensuring the functioning and development of the Kaliningrad region.

An active federal policy regarding the Kaliningrad region aimed at solving two interrelated but relatively independent objec-

tives should be implemented:

1. ensuring Russian sovereignty in the region. It means in fact ensuring the region’s viability and its functioning;

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