ABSTRACT
This chapter retraces from various contributions how the region has changed in terms of the cooperative security process phases, and link that with the state of power disparity over time. It appears that the Baltic Sea Region has moved some distance in the direction of realizing an advanced stage of cooperative security. The chapter addresses to what extent the region has been marked by power disparity since 1991; what potential the region holds for future power disparities. It introduces a final complicating factor: the lack of congruence between Russian self-conceptions of their country as a great power and others' conceptions of Russia as less of a great power and more of a 'nuisance power' in the Baltic Sea region. The chapter explains how role identities like 'small state' and 'great power' have developed during the post-Cold War period. Avoiding self-identification as a small state is an obvious way to deal with power disparity.
