Dataset: "Bridge-Building in a Divided High North: Perceived socio-political outcomes of the intraregional and “people-to-people” initiative, the Barents Cooperation"

• Main Author: Medby, Ingrid A.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Brookes University 2020
• Subjects: Arctic; Barents; Norway; People-to-people; barents region; Kirkenes; Northern Norway
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.24384/f28a-e336; https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/file/3ea92d1c-a407-43dc-a373-d7edf2eac326/1/ReadMe.rtf; https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/file/3ea92d1c-a407-43dc-a373-d7edf2eac326/1/BarentsCooperationProject.zip

This is the dataset (interview transcripts) generated from a project funded by The British Academy’s Small Research Grants (SRG1819\190148), running 2019-2021. There are 13 semi-structured interview transcripts, most of which in Norwegian. Project description: In light of recently escalating tensions between Russia and Western Europe, this project examined successes and challenges of a long-running bridge-building initiative in the Arctic, the Barents Cooperation. This is an intra-regional initiative that was established in the wake of the Cold War with the aim of facilitating both political and social interaction between Russia and Nordic European states. Today, the Barents region is a unique example of interconnected decision-making across local, regional, national, and international levels. And with an emphasis on so-called “people-to-people” exchanges, it is an example of how political relations are also social relations. The project aimed to identify some of the perceived outcomes of the long-running Barents Cooperation in order to assess potentially transferable lessons for the present geopolitical context; and in particular, it aims to identify successes, challenges, and potentially transferable lessons in a time of heightened tension between Russia and Western Europe. Focusing on local and regional decision-makers and organisers directly involved with the initiative in Northern Norway, it asked what their perceptions of cross-border engagement have meant for the Arctic Barents region.