Human mobility and visa policies : the case of North-Western Russia

• Main Author: Leonova, Anna
• Other Authors: Johtamiskorkeakoulu - Faculty of Management, University of Tampere
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: cross-border cooperation; visa policies; border studies; Europe and Russia; North-East of Europe; North-West Russia; Nordic country and the Baltic region; private/tourist human mobility; Master's Programme in Russian and European Studies; North-Western Russia
• Online Access: https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/101702

The aim of this research is foster cooperation between regions of Russia and neighboring European countries through the consideration of visa policies. In other words, the goal is to expand cooperation at the borders, where it can affect relations between countries as a whole. This thesis contains an analysis of the situation only on the Russian side of the border. It is argued that the process of increasing the number of border crossings by citizens from the Russian side has a certain influence on the development of international relations. A positive effect will be achieved with an increase in crossings per person, rather than the overall percentage of the country. The rise of the number trips increases the chances of establishing constructive interaction with the inhabitants of other countries. This is important due to a decrease in interest in cooperation with the countries of the European Union among Russian youth. This tendency was revealed on the basis of an analysis of surveys conducted in the North-West region of Russia. Furthermore, a second purpose of this research which relates to the research questions is to identify those factors that hampered the increase in visits to Finland and the Baltic States, as well as identifying areas where specific changes could be proposed to optimize the border crossing process. For example, one of the areas identified is a false idea of the difficulty of obtaining a visa, common among people who have never traveled. Accordingly, by providing individualized information about visas, border crossing procedures and other similar actions, it is possible to increase the growth of visits to other countries per person. It is important to provide detailed information even to those people who have not seriously thought about such trips. The thesis shows the need to intensify activities in this direction. In this thesis, the theoretical framework of functionalism is used, and through this theory all analyses were built. The main research method is a qualitative content analysis, ...