A second article from our project is now available for the public, addressing the issue of Russian Sámi attempts to import the Nordic Sámi Parliament model of political representation.
Berg-Nordlie, Mikkel: “Striving to unite. The Russian Sámi and the Nordic Sámi Parliament model” is available in Arctic Review on Law and Politics 1/2011 and can also be downloaded by clicking on the icon at the end of the text.
This article describes activism in the Russian Federation aimed at reforming indigenous policy by adopting a foreign model – a Nordic-type indigenous elected assembly – for the Sámi of the Russian Federation. Key initiatives ca. 1985-2010 are presented, their origins investigated, and some effects of the activists’ actions – intended and otherwise – are analyzed.
The article also analyses mechanisms for Sámi representation in Russia in light of certain functions of the Nordic Sámi Parliaments.
The Sámi Parliament Building in Norway (Image: Wikimedia Commons).
