Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Baltic Partnerships: Integration, Growth and Local Governance in the Baltic Sea Region

The Baltic Sea Region is rapidly becoming one of the worlds more competitive regions. The region is capitalising on its strengths and making the most of its diversity to stimulate innovation, build a strong pool of skilled labour and foster entrepreneurship. A deep spirit of co-operation and integration has led the Baltic Sea countries to set up ambitious governance frameworks to pursue economic development objectives jointly from Oslo to St. Petersburg. Yet major challenges at the local level lie ahead for the Eastern shores of the Baltic, where economic transition still needs to be accompanied by more innovative strategic planning, new forms of governance and dynamic civic entrepreneurship. This book analyses the new developments in the Baltic States and Northwest Russia and provides suggestions on how to speed up this progress.Table of Content : Chapter 1. Integration, Growth and Governance in the Baltic Sea Region by Silvain Giguère Chapter 2. The Governance of Employment and Economic Development in the Baltic States by Alf Vanags Chapter 3. Enhancing the Development Process in Lithuania: Toward Truly Participative Governance by Micheál Ó. Cinnéid Chapter 4. Reforming Both Local Government and Local Governance: The Challenge to Latvia by Mike Geddes Chapter 5. Consolidated Local Governments in Partnerships: A Key to Promoting Economic Development in Estonia by Jussi s. Jauhiainen Chapter 6. The Governance of Economic and Employment Development in North West Russia by Irina Denisova and Marcus Svedberg Chapter 7. Area-Based Partnerships as Forms of Collaborative Governance in Germany by Holger Kuhle Chapter 8. Cross-Border Co-operation and Local Governance - The Case of Kaliningrad by Alexey Ignatiev Chapter 9. The Possibility of Creating Regional Governments in the Baltic States: The Case of Latvia by Ligita Zacesta and Maris Pukis Chapter 10. Regional Co-operation on Innovation and Cluster Development by Emily Wise Hansson