Identity Formation in the Barents Euro-Arctic Region

Abstract

The Barents Euro-Arctic Region was established in 1993 to further security objectives in the European North. In order to reach the superior goal of maintaining stability in the area, it is a declared aim to create an identity region with people from all parts of it conceiving of themselves as `us' as opposed to `them' outside. The common history of the populations in the area as well as their similar geographical frame of reference are emphasized as forces capable of enhancing such a process. In this article, various narratives concerning the possibility of creating a common northern identity across the former Iron Curtain are presented. Pending more extensive empirical evaluations of the identity formation efforts, a preliminary conclusion would be that the new northern identity is characterized above all by contrasts and paradoxes. While the Barents Region project has profoundly changed the lives of a whole group of young Russians — here called `the Barents generation' — great numbers of people in the region probably have not even heard of it. Furthermore, a new contrasting between East and West seems to be underway.