Early expctations of the Barents-cooperation compared to current assessments of the cooperation

Abstract

The status of the Barents-cooperation thirty years after it was established has been analyzed by comparing ambitions against realities as perceived by practitioners and experts on the cooperation. By studying the Barents-cooperation through the perspective of practitioners, I have situated my theoretical approach between the critical constructivist and poststructuralist approaches, where language is central in understanding social reality. I have analyzed how the Barents-cooperation – emerging from a foreign policy project articulated by elites – is understood today by local practitioners. The external conditions that were present in 1993 are still present and are highlighted in the interviews. Namely the distance between the West and Russia. This can be seen as the main motivation behind the establishment of the collaboration, and there is still broad support for it. Expectations attached to the collaboration in 1993 were high. The practitioners interviewed in this thesis and their descriptions considerably vary in the assessments of the cooperation today.