Security in the Barents Region

Abstract

This article analyses the new Norwegian security thinking as realized in the establishment of the Barents Region. Two questions are asked: First, how can the security approach of the Barents initiative be conceptualized theoretically? Second, what are the practical implications of this approach? In answering these questions, three problems are focused on: (1) whether security is an issue or a dimension; (2) the unit problem; (3) the problem of change. `Traditionalist' and `revisionist' positions on each of these problems are elaborated and applied in an analysis of the Norwegian Barents initiative. In the Barents framework, Norway approaches security as a dimension rather than as a single issue. Furthermore, security is viewed as primarily concerning the state, but some rhetoric and potential implications indicate that also non-state communities, such as the Sámi people, can be approached as security subjects. Finally, rather than stability in the sense of the status quo, Norway seems to consider predictable change to be a basic aim of the Barents strategy.