Features

Features offer in-depth accounts of issues related to the region without prior peer-review process.

nuclear storage gone awry

In Michael Madsen’s film Into Eternity, the safe storage of nuclear waste has gone awry: distant descendants of ours from a civilization unknown to us have penetrated the defenses of Onkalo, the final repository of nuclear waste on Finland’s west coast.

By Thomas Borchert January 10, 2011

Finland – land of uranium

The Decision-in-Principle (DiP) in 2002 to build a fifth nuclear power plant made Finland the center of attention when the nuclear power industry began to see its chances. Finland is the first country to have made a decision on final storage of nuclear waste. Finland is also the only Nordic country in which energy consumption is rising.

By Angela Oker-Blom January 10, 2011

Artpole. Interactive relaxation and music festival by the Black Sea

The ArtPole festival has become one of the most well known festivals in Ukraine over the course of its five-year history. In the past the festival exclusively featured traditional Ukrainian folk music as it developed and flourished during the last decade; now the focus is on what may be called the new urban folk music.

By Hanna Söderbaum September 21, 2010

The Baltic Sea Festival Bridging East and West, North and South

The eleven-day Baltic Sea Festival in Stockholm is supposed to build bridges and tie cultural bounds.

By Hans Wolf September 21, 2010

Pomerania. In the borderlands between Germany and Poland

Today, Pomerania is divided between Germany and Poland, but the German and Polish populations have few factors in common that might serve to unify them. Nevertheless, in some respects the region is gradually becoming more interwoven. To study the development of these cross-border flows, a series of interviews is being conducted as part of a on-going research project

By Péter Balogh September 21, 2010

Poland. Economic Growth, Income Disparities, and Inequality in a Transition Economy

Over the past two decades Poland has begun to catch up to the wealthier parts of Europe. Between 1996 and 2008, average growth in Poland was 4.6 percent, compared with 2.2 percent in the EU-15. During the crisis year of 2009, Poland was the only EU country to post positive GDP growth. Prosperity has increased, infant mortality has fallen and life expectancy is longer. But income growth has been unequally distributed. There are winners and losers. Today Poland is among the group of European countries in which income inequality is greatest.

By Peter Johnsson September 21, 2010

Access granted: archives open for researcher

On June 24, 2010 Regeringsrätten, Sweden’s Supreme Administrative Court, reached a verdict, marking a victory for Professor Birgitta Almgren’s research. Both the Swedish Security Service (Säpo) and the Stockholm Administrative Court of Appeal had rejected Professor Almgren's request to obtain the classified documents from the GDR's foreign espionage that the CIA sent to Säpo.

By Anders Björnsson August 26, 2010

Older than East and West

An exhibition about a woman born in a Europe that has vanished, in a city that no longer exists. Anna is neither East nor West, she is older than that. Her destiny is intertwined with the destiny of Europe. For this reason, the personal becomes universal in this touring exhibition.

By Unn Gustafsson July 1, 2010

birdlife and flora threatened

Illegal logging is the foremost threat to the survival of forests around the world. It also means that many countries lose vast amounts of tax revenue and custom duties. Russia and the Baltic countries account for the largest volume of illegal export to the EU countries.

By Anders Hellner July 1, 2010

The National Urban Park Historical Dead End or Model for the Future?

Sweden was the first in Europe to protect nature in urban areas. Today, a wide range of national urban parks are being established in the countries around the Baltic Sea, parks that will satisfy the city-dweller’s need to spend time in nature.

By Pontus Reimers July 1, 2010