This article adopts the historical neo-institutional approach to analyse the dissolution of the Livonian Confederation and the ensuing reshaping of the Baltic region in the 16th-19th centuries. These historical events are employed to describe the post-bifurcation incorporation of a society in a different social system. Several inclusion models are identified. The centralised model suggests that the incorporated society reproduces the institutions of the incorporating society. Modified institutions are transplanted to the incorporated society within the quasi-centralised model, whilst only selected modified institutions are transferred within the autonomist one. The author analyses the mechanisms playing a part in state mergers and emphasises their dependence on the institutional environment of the incorporating society. For instance, a part of Livonia was incorporated in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (PLC) through transplanting PLC institutions, primarily political ones, to the newly acquired territories. To this end, a mechanism was developed to encourage cooperation from the nobility without further stratification. Sweden, however, acted on the autonomist model when incorporating Estland and Livland. Economic, political, and socio-cultural institutions, many of which were of hybrid type, were transplanted, whilst socialisation mechanisms and incentives applied to a wider section of the population. The Russian approach, which had at its core security considerations, combined autonomist elements (establishment of hybrid institutions in the new territories) and centralised components (propagation of Russian imperial institutions). The merger mechanisms included the creation of an Ostsee estate system and incentives for the higher estates coupled with repressions against commoners. Overall, the nature of state mergers and institutional transplantations depends on whether the incorporated territories have had a history of statehood, another significant factor being the degree of similarity between the institutions of the acquired territories and the metropole.

The article presents the materials of a scientific discussion held by the National Research Institute of Communications Development in April 2021. As the result of discussion the controllability assessment was carried out and the type of the communication mode of Belarus was determined. Geographical, historical, and geopolitical factors forming the Belarusian communication mode are analyzed from a historical point of view and in their current state. The evolution of communication mode was carried out under the influence of two multidirectional trends: the development of a system of vertical communications, typical for countries with an institutional matrix where redistributive institutions dominate, and horizontal communication systems, which is typical for countries with market-dominated institutions. As the result we see the formation of two cores in the communication mode. A number of participants of the discussion believe that one of the cores of the communication mode (connected with the Catholic Church) makes it impossible to build a rigid hierarchical communication model in Belarus, absolutely controlled by the authorities.

This study traces the dynamics of Eastern Partnership countries' involvement in Eurasian integration for the period 2012~2015. Three types of cooperation−active, neutral, and confrontational−between the Eastern Partnership and the Eurasian Economic Union are analyzed. Special emphasis is also placed on the economic convergence of Eastern Partnership members and the Eurasian Economic Union states. The study reveals clear discrepancies in the economies of the region, revealing a significant obstacle to further integration. It is suggested that the presence of an extra-regional pole of power, namely the European Union, is weakening regional integration. Unmatched clusters of integration and economic convergence are found through heuristic examination of integration at the level of country dyads. JEL Classifications: H70, F02, F15

The paper gives an in-depth analysis of the evolution of the EU policy towards the South Caucasus within the framework of the Eastern Partnership. It is amply demonstrated that in 2009-2016 the goal was a Europeanization as a creation of a favorable external environment for the European Union through a sweeping judiciary, economic and political transformation in the region carried out according to the European standards. Among the key objectives of the European Union policy is the maintenance of energy security by means of creating an alternative transport corridor for fossil fuels. The study underscores that the implementation of the Eastern Partnership in 2009-2013 revealed significant discrepancies in the speed and degree of Europeanization in the South Caucasus countries due to their socio-economic peculiarities. Such uneven transformation reflects the long-standing search for an optimum way of cooperation with the European Union. This complex multi-aspect and long-term process constitutes an integral part of the effort to grasp new national and regional identities made by post-Soviet states. The paper thoroughly analyses the distinctive features of the new EU foreign policy strategy characterized by a differentiated approach to each country. Instead of the former irreciprocal statement of prerequisites for cooperation, such an approach paves the way for meaningful bilateral dialogue between the partners and furthers integration just to the extent they are ready for. Yet, it is shown that this strategy preserved the faults of the former EU regional policy towards the post-Soviet space. They include inconsistency, vague objectives, and emphasis on the geopolitical confrontation with Russia. However, in order to promote the stable development of the region, the EU needs to rethink its foreign policy strategy and come up with a modernized framework of cooperation that would take into account the interests of all concerned parties, including the Russian Federation.

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