Neighbours in the North - The Nordic Council of Ministers and their cooperation with North-Western Russia

• Main Author: Rantatalo, Sofia
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: Lunds universitet/Statsvetenskapliga institutionen 2008
• Subjects: Nordic cooperation; North-Western Russia; neighbourhood; New Regionalism; regional cooperation; regional identity; Political and administrative sciences; Statsvetenskap; förvaltningskunskap; Law and Political Science
• Online Access: http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/1320764

In this thesis I analyse why the Nordic Council of Ministers cooperate with North-Western Russia, by using theories of New Regionalism. The study is based on literature-study of official publications and qualitative interviews with employees at the NCM information office in St Petersburg, Russia. I analyse how they describe the aims of the cooperation, and how they expect it to influence the Nordic cooperation in general. According to the interviewees, the core aims for the cooperation is to create networks across the borders, to represent the Nordic region, and to promote values, solutions and products as Nordic. I analyse how the cooperation also can be seen as a way to promote the Nordic region globally, as role-models when it comes to building peaceful neighbour relations and the ability to talk to Russia. This can be seen in the light of increasing regional competition by globalisation and Europeanisation. It can also be seen as a way to legitimize the continued existence of the NCM as a regional organisation: by strengthening the regional identity of the Nordic region, promoting cooperation of other actors on different levels in New regionalist manner, and connecting this to the idea of Nordic.