Arctic Yearbook 2014 | Page 583

583 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