RE:Barents workshop
Part of the research team met at Skogen, Oslo, to finalize an academic article on conviviality across the Norwegian-Russian border – we cross our fingers that it will be accepted!
RE:Barents results presented at BASEES conference
NIBR researchers Aadne Aasland and Marthe Handå Myhre presented findings from the RE:Barents survey at the BASEES conference in Glasgow 31 March – 2 April 2023.
Abstract:
While right until its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 Russia had a certain soft power appeal to segments of the population in Western Europe, much of this appeal has been lost with the country’s brutal military acts of violence and violations of international law. This by no means implies, however, that there is a consensus around what the responses to Russia’s war in Ukraine should be. This is also the case in Norway, a NATO country with a common border with Russia, and with traditions of balancing deterrence and reassurance in its foreign policy towards its neighbour. Norway has for the most part followed EU’s sanctions policies, but at the same time Norwegians have since the early 1990s built strong people-to-people contacts through Barents collaboration, especially in the region close to the border. In light of the Russian invasion and war in Ukraine, how clearly do Norwegians today distinguish between the Russian regime and everything “Russian”? What policies toward Russia, e.g. on sanctions and visa restrictions, are they in favour of? And what are people’s expectations and opinion about Norway’s future relations with Russia in a short and longer term perspective? Data will be drawn from a public opinion survey of about 1,000 respondents in Norway to be conducted in December 2022. Multivariate analysis techniques will be used e.g. to examine effects of previous experience with Russians and Russian culture, and proximity to the border.
RE:Barents at Barents Spektakel festival
Participants in the RE:Barents project participate in two events during the Barents Spektakel festival in Kirkenes which takes place from 24 February to 1 March 2023.
The first event is at the Transborder Cafe on 27 February, where participants from RE:Barents will discuss the issue of Trust in the neighbour. The event will be in Norwegian.
«Gjennom flere tiår er det bygget opp tillit mellom enkeltpersoner, institusjoner, myndighetsnivå, organisasjoner, politikere og forskere på begge sider av den Russiske grensa.
Russlands krig i Ukraina har satt en stopper for det meste av grenseregionalt samarbeid. Hvordan påvirker dette vår relasjon til naboen i øst? Har vi tillitt til de som har blitt våre gode venner? Kan vi skille mellom enkeltpersoner og myndighetsnivå?»
On 28 February ((13:00 – 15:30) we will have a researcher dissemination seminar (which will be streamed) where RE:Barents is one out of two projects to be presented, «Game over for institusjonelt og folk-til-folk Barentssamarbeid? Hva sier forskerne?«, also in Norwegian.
Seven researchers from NIBR and NORCE will present preliminary results from the project.
Transborder Café: In Barents We Trust
Vigdis Nygaard from RE:Barents participated in a panel debate on the achievements of the Barents collaboration on the 30th anniversary since its establishment. The whole event took place in Kirkenes 11 January and is available online on Youtube (if you follow the link you will also find more information about the event).
New op-ed on Russian Sámi Politics
Mikkel Berg-Nordlie has written a new op-ed for Ságat on Russian Sámi politics:
«Last year, three decades of Sami cooperation across the old Iron Curtain were to be celebrated. It didn’t go quite as planned.»
Russian Sámi politics in 2022: What can be learnt from the recent past?
RE:Barents researcher has written an op-ed in the newspaper Sagat (in Norwegian) on Russian Sámi politics in the last decades to the present:
Krigspropaganda med sameflagg. Falske nyheter om samepolitikere. Avvikling av samisk representasjon. Er årets begivenheter i øst helt unike? La oss ta en nærmere kikk på Russlands nære samepolitiske historie.
RE:Barents project being revised
As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the RE:Barents project is currently being revised. We will soon update the website.
Presidential programme final conference
On 28 January 2022 the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities organised the final conference of the Presidential programme, one of the programmes that is studied in the RE:Barents project. Due to Covid restrictions the event was organised in a digital fashion. About 70 participants, mostly previous participants in the programme, could listen to presentations about the history of the programme and personal accounts of experiences during internships in Norway and Russia. Elita Cakule (photo) and Christian Larsen (KS/RE:Barents participants) gave a presentation of the Presidential programme, and Aadne Aasland (OsloMet/RE:Barents project leader) presented the plans for the final assessment of the programme.
RE:Barents presented at Nordområdekonferansen
At Nordområdekonferansen, organised by the Norwegian Health and Care Ministry 6-7 December in Oslo (Radisson Nydalen), Aadne Aasland presented the RE:Barents project to those who have received funding for health collaboration with Russia from the Ministry’s grant scheme. Aasland also used the opportunity to present the plans for the evaluation of this grant scheme which NIBR will undertake in collaboration with RE:Barents partners NORCE and Luzin during the next few months.
Collaboration in difficult times
RE:Barents researchers (Bård Kårtveit and Vigdis Nygaard at NORCE) write about the importance of keeping up collaboration with Russian partners – in Dagsavisen 6 December 2021.
