Political Regime Influences in the Barents Euro-Arctic Region

Abstract

This paper traces the trajectories of governance, local residents’ voices and changes in the resource extraction structure in two Russian regions participating in the Barents Euro-Arctic cooperation during the post-Soviet period: Republic of Karelia and Murmansk Oblast. The paper shows how the perspectives of the cooperation and the futures of the Arctic in these regions have developed among NGOs and local voices, using an interdisciplinary approach drawing on tools from political science and social anthropology. The authors argue that the Barents regional cooperation has embraced two different versions of international relations: between 1991 and 1999, the dominant policy framework was one of openness to regional cooperation, while after 2000, the main aim of Russian foreign policy instead shifted towards self-sufficiency.