ABSTRACT
After obtaining membership of the European Union (EU) and the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 2004, Lithuania was actively engaged in the activities of both institutions. In 2004 it was the first EU
member state to ratify the EU Constitution and among the first of the new
member states to seek entrance to the euro zone. Both its population and its
political elite are positively disposed towards Lithuania’s membership of the
EU and NATO and optimistic about its prospects. Claims are often made
that by decisively turning towards the West in 1994 Lithuania has developed
an optimal foreign and security policy reflecting the aspirations of its
people. One may wonder, however, whether such optimistic claims do not sound an ‘end of history’ note. Is it not the case that the sovereign state has
become a mere consumer of EU funds, diligently complying with EU and
NATO directives? Does Lithuania’s being in the space of the EU leave any
room for the country’s independent foreign and security initiatives? These
questions, widely discussed in Lithuania’s media debates, are of particular
urgency in studying the relation of Lithuania’s security and defence policies
to the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) and NATO. Taking
the Constructivist assumption that foreign and security policies are the main instruments of state-building and enforcement, answers to these
questions should also help reveal the importance of issues of political iden-
tity in Lithuania’s political discourse.
