The Politics of Leverage in International Relations

Abstract

Geir H̜nneland discusses some of the big questions in social science: What is identity? How is it narrated by subjects? What is the role of identity and narrative in the study of international relations? The location is the Kola Peninsula, the most heavily militarized area of the world during the Cold War, now set to become Europe's next big oil playground. The author looks at how living close to the border affects people, and whether borderland people are different from other people. Above all, he asks empirical questions about identities in a specific geographic location, discussing what it means to be Russian, what it means to be a northerner and how people in Russia's north-western corner define themselves in relation to their Scandinavian neighbours and their southern relatives. This is a book about the nature of borderland Russians - living in the high north, hailing from the south, with Western neighbours within throwing distance across an increasingly permeable border. Introduction -- Borderlands, identity, narrative -- Russianness, northernness -- Research questions and methodology -- The rest of the book -- The Kola Peninsula : politics, society, international networks -- Populating the Russian north-west -- Murmansk Oblast : population, economy, environment -- Civil-military relations -- Big oil playground? -- International networks -- Russian perceptions of the international collaboration -- Region building, identity politics -- How to be a northerner : distinguishing North from South -- Extract 1: "When I told them how I lived, they went all misty-eyed" -- Extract 2: "If you'd asked me last year, I would have said Murmansk was the best place in the world" -- Extract 3: "The North is like a bottomless pit dragging you down" -- Negotiating stereotypes about north and south -- The vocabulary available--identity as narrative -- Changing borders? -- How to be a Russian : distinguishing East from West -- Extract 1: "Their eyes are always wide open" -- Extract 2: "As nations, they're on the decline" -- Extract 3: "Everything over there predisposes them to equanimity" -- Exploring stereotypes about Scandinavians -- The words to say it--identity as narrative -- New borderlands? -- Living in the northern environment -- Extract 1: "Nothing wrong with the environment here, despite the slight lack of oxygen" -- Extract 2: "Russians in general are a lucky bunch of people. Foosht! Foosht!" -- Extract 3: "I loathe Russia as a state!" -- General views on the state of the environment -- "The Russia tale"--laments evoked by the environment -- Scandinavia and the environment -- Narrative, identity, and international relations -- The key words -- Key narratives, northern identities -- Narrative juggling -- Narrative analysis, international relations -- Borderland Russians, Nordic neighbours.