Abstract
The Barents Sea Region (BaSR) is a dynamic and complex region that acts as a meeting place for both states and peoples. Using a human security lens, this chapter reveals some of the stories of the people of the BaSR as a home to multiple ethnicities and nationalities, to large cities and small communities. The region’s relevance to current geopolitics is significant, where Norway, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), borders the Russian Federation. This geopolitical relevance, though important, does not define the region or relations among peoples. Indeed, the region is also well known for very good relations between Russian and Norwegian peoples from the times of the Pomor trade to the present. Overlapping these dynamics are the continuous struggles of Indigenous peoples to maintain and develop their own societies and political institutions. The Sámi people have experienced various forms of colonization on both the Norwegian and Russian sides of the borders. Over time, Sámi rights have increased, as has access to governance structures, though to different degrees depending on Russian or Norwegian state policies. Intertwined within these relations of power between states, and between states and peoples, is the extensive natural resource wealth of the region from fisheries to oil and gas. The combination of all of these dynamics make the region unique to the Arctic setting.
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Notes
- 1.
We refer to “Russian Federation” and “Russia” interchangeably.
- 2.
By “local population” we refer to the many other ethnic but non-Indigenous communities in the region.
- 3.
Please see: Fakta om Finnmarkloven (Facts on the Finnmark Law) https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokumenter/fakta-om-finnmarksloven/id88240/ (only available in Norwegian)
- 4.
Non-governmental organisations, Ministry of Justice (Russia). URL: http://unro.minjust.ru/NKOs.aspx. Accessed 03.05.19.
- 5.
O Edinom perechne korennykh malochislennykh narodov Rossiyskoy Federatsii [On Unified List on Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples of the Russian Federation], Governmental resolution of March 22, 2000 No. 255. URL: http://docs.cntd.ru/document/901757631. Accessed 03.05.19.
- 6.
O sozdanii Fonda sokhraneniya i izucheniya rodnykh yazykov narodov Rossii [On the creation of the Fund for the preservation and study of the native languages of the peoples of Russia]. URL: http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/58914. Accessed: 03.05.2019.
- 7.
See Norwegian Seafood Council “Sjømateksport for 99 milliarder i 2018 (Seafood exports at 99 billion in 2018)”: https://seafood.no/aktuelt/nyheter/sjomateksport-for-99-milliarder-i-2018-/
- 8.
University student numbers, in Norwegian: https://www.ssb.no/utdanning/artikler-og-publikasjoner/her-er-de-storste-studiestedene-i-norge. List of universities and colleges in Norway, in English: https://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/kd/organisation/kunnskapsdepartementets-etater-og-virksomheter/Subordinate-agencies-2/state-run-universities-and-university-co/id434505/)
- 9.
Statistics on tourism, in Norwegian: https://www.statistikknett.no
- 10.
In the Soviet time, Severodvinsk had status of closed town or ZATO. ZATO status restricted uncontrolled movement out of and in the town.
- 11.
The system of orders was developed in the Soviet time. It was connected to an economics based on the principle of distribution. The state provided money to the plants to build a submarine or to repair a ship. The plants did not participate in any open competition, and just had to wait for the contact from above. This became especially crucial in the ‘90s. For such a town the absence of orders from the state meant, literary, economic death, because the majority of the inhabitants were employed by the state through four major enterprises.
- 12.
Life in Severodvinsk is built around four major enterprises working for the state defence.
- 13.
The volume of defence orders to the Naval Yard in Severodvinsk from the state fell by 95% in 1990 (Åtland 2009: 114).
- 14.
Trofimova “Zigzagi demografii.” [Zigzags of demography]. Newspaper Severnyi rabochii, Severodvinsk, 2010, January 21: 9.
- 15.
Please see: http://www.dvinaland.ru/prcenter/release/17278/
- 16.
Gazprom is a large Russian company working with extraction, production and sale of natural gas. The Russian Government holds a majority stake in the company.
- 17.
“Shtokmanovskyi proekt – kluch k promyshlennomu razvitiju Evropeiskogo Severa Rossii.” [Shtokman project – a key to industrial development of the European North of Russia]. Alexey Miller’s report on the Murmansk International Economic Forum: http://www.gazprom.ru/press/news/2009/october/article69343/ published online October 15, 2009. Accessed November 22, 2016.
- 18.
Please see (in Russian): http://council.gov.ru/activity/analytics/analytical_bulletins/92403/)
- 19.
Zubarevich (2016) extracts four crises in Russia. The first one took place in 1992–1995. The second one from 1998 is partly related to the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and partly to the difficult economic situation in Russia, which resulted in devaluation of the ruble and default. The third crisis took place in 2008–2009 and was related to the global financial crisis of 2007–2008. The fourth one started in 2013 and is still ongoing. This crisis is related to the decrease in oil prices in 2014.
- 20.
The Shtokman gas and condensate field is located on the territory of the Murmansk region.
- 21.
See «The Pomor Trade»: https://www.ub.uit.no/northernlights/eng/pomor.htm
- 22.
See «The Barents Region»: https://barents.no/nb/om-oss/barentsregionen
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Øvretveit, O., Gjørv, G.H., Goes, M., Kudryashova, E., Kuokkanen, R., Zadorin, M. (2020). The Barents Sea Region in a Human Security Perspective. In: Young, O., Berkman, P., Vylegzhanin, A. (eds) Governing Arctic Seas: Regional Lessons from the Bering Strait and Barents Sea. Informed Decisionmaking for Sustainability. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25674-6_8
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