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Arctic Yearbook 2014
Another important example of knowledge sharing methods between Russians and Arctic states is
the International Summer School in Karelia (ISSK) that was organized for its eleventh year in
2014. The summer school is held at the Petrozavodsk State University in Karelia for BA and MA
students affiliated to different Russian and Finnish universities. It is an international joint
initiative organized by PetroSU, the University of Lapland, the University of Tempere, the
Aleksanteri Institute of the University of Helsinki and the University of Eastern Finland.
This year’s week-long intensive course was themed “Sovereignty in the Barents Euro-Arctic
Region” and brought together scholars and students from Karelia and other parts of Russia,
France, Finland, the United States and Canada. Students were first introduced to the global
Arctic in a post-cold war context, with lectures on the world economy, regionalism, theory of
international relations, the relationships between transnational corporations and states, and also
the geopolitics of energy security. The Arctic region – and mostly BEAR – is feeling the pressure
from those abovementioned contexts and actors that appear to be increasingly challenging state
sovereignty and national securities, thus fuelling sentiments of insecurity. Thematic case studies
were also presented to the students by professors and scholars from the Arctic on different
issues and perspectives on sovereignty, borders, national defence, regional economies,
governance, and environmental security. The format of the summer school – lectures and
interactive participation by the students as well as afternoon breakout working groups – offers
an excellent opportunity for students from different regions of the Arctic or elsewhere to work
together and learn from lectures and from each other. After being trained for a week, students
are asked to submit an article on different sessions of the summer school.
While one of the organizers of the ISSK, Lassi Heininen from the University of Lapland, is the
lead of the Thematic Network on Geopolitics and Security (TNGS), many lecturers who
participated in the ISSK were affiliated to the TNGS. The network therefore is a tool for
knowledge sharing on Arctic issues, and has also the potential to interest more students to
pursue higher learning in geopolitics and security. Most of all, through such formats as ISSK, the
Discussing & Promoting (Regional) Arctic Cooperation in Russia