ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on changes in the center-periphery relationships as one important variable which affects the future of Kaliningrad. The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the resulting separation of Kaliningrad from mainland Russia has left other unresolved issues such as lack of agreement on the border between Kaliningrad and Lithuania and uncertainties about transit access to Kaliningrad from mainland Russia across Belarus, Poland and Lithuania. From the perspective of Kaliningrad's role in the reconfiguration of post-Soviet space, even the psychological and political/economic location of Kaliningrad may be changing. The chapter considers the future scenarios related to change on the periphery of post-Soviet space. It explores how changes on the European periphery might affect Kaliningrad as neighboring Poland and Lithuania attempt to join the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The chapter reviews the criticism which scholars have made about the appropriateness of center-periphery paradigms.
