Borderland Russians: Identity, Narrative and International Relations

by G. Hønneland

Overview

Geir Hønneland discusses some of the big questions in social science: What is identity? 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230252677
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	10/13/2010
Series:	Palgrave Studies in International Relations
Edition description:	2010
Pages:	174
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

GEIR HØNNELAND is Research Director at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute and Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Tromsø, Norway. He has published widely on Russian environmental politics and international relations in the European North.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

1 Introduction 1

Introduction 1

Borderlands, identity, narrative 3

Russianness, Northernness 8

Research questions and methodology 17

The rest of the book 19

2 The Kola Peninsula: Politics, Society, International Networks 20

Introduction 20

Populating the Russian north-west 22

Murmansk Oblast: Population, economy, environment 25

Civil-military relations 30

Big oil playground? 32

International networks 37

Russian perceptions of the international collaboration 42

Region building, identity politics 47

3 How to Be a Northerner: Distinguishing North from South 51

Introduction 51

Extract 1 'When I told them how I lived, they went all misty-eyed' 52

Extract 2 'If you'd asked me last year, I would have said Murmansk was the best place in the world' 57

Extract 3 'The north is like a bottomless pit dragging you down' 61

Negotiating stereotypes about north and south 65

The vocabulary available - identity as narrative 70

Changing borders? 73

Conclusions 78

4 How to Be a Russian: Distinguishing East from West 80

Introduction 80

Extract 1 'Their eyes are always wide open' 80

Extract 2 'As nations, they're on the decline' 83

Extract 3 'Everything over there predisposes them to equanimity' 86

Exploring stereotypes about Scandinavians 88

The words to say it - identity as narrative 94

New borderlands? 97

Conclusions 102

5 Living in the Northern Environment 105

Introduction 105

Extract 1 'Nothing wrong with the environment here, despite the slight lack of oxygen' 106

Extract 2 'Russians in general are a lucky bunch of people. Foosht! Foosht!' 107

Extract 3 'I loathe Russia as a state!' 109

General views on the state of the environment 112

'The Russia tale' - laments evoked by the environment 115

Scandinavia and the environment 119

Conclusions 121

6 Narrative, Identity and International Relations 123

Introduction 123

The key words 124

Key narratives, northern identities 126

Narrative juggling 129

Narrative analysis, international relations 132

Borderland Russians, Nordic neighbours 136

Notes 139

References 165

Index 173

Editorial Reviews

'What a great snapshot of everyday identity in a Russian province! Local knowledge has arrived in International Relations'

Iver B. Neumann, Professorof Russian Studies, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and author of Uses of the Other: 'the East' in European Identity Formation

'The book treats one of the hottest and coolest issues in IR, the question of identity, in a well-informed, earnest, lively, humorous and entertaining manner. It solves the "big issues"' and yet makes pertinent observations on what it means to be a Russian, a Notherner, and most interesting, a Borderlander.'

Sergei Medvedev, Professor, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia

'This book is very worth reading, because it gives a good insight into the way of thinking of the Kola Peninsula's ordinary population and, moreover, in a very easily understandable way.'

Polar Record

'Borderland Russians is a good read, and its added value stretches from the local level to the bigger questions dealing with identity-formation and everyday narratives.'

The Russian Review

'This highly readable and engaging work sheds new light on the region of Russia above the Arctic Circle, a neglected area of work in Russian politics, geography, and area studies... The work contributes to debates in international relations about how identities are assigned, how they evolve, and how they are made.'

- CHOICE

'Hønneland introduces very interesting, big themes for the wide public.'

- Nordisk Østforum - Nordic Journal of Russian and East European Affairs

'This is a highly readable book, which thanks to its clear style and absorbing content can be addressed also to readers from outside academia.'

- Studia Polityczne, Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Science

'Borderland Russians is informative, insightful and well written. It brings to the table fresh data and good analysis, and is in addition a genuine joy to read [...] No reader who seeks to understand how Russian Northerners view themselves, the South and their Western neighbors should miss out on this book.'

- Arctic Review on Law and Politics: Mikkel Berg-Nordlie, Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research

'This book is a valuable source for readers interested in identity constructions'

- Europe-Asia Studies, 64:4

From the Publisher