“High Politics” and Everyday Practices at the Border: Emerging Communities of Practice in the High North

Abstract

Abstract Using the concept of communities of practice, the article explores how boundary-crossing practices on borders vulnerable to states' “high politics” have developed overtime, leading to the formation of communities of doers bound by shared interests in learning and performing shared practices. Existing research on how diplomats, civilian and military staff in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has shown how shared professional identities that cut across organizational, cultural and national boundaries has led to the emergence of communities of practice though everyday informal interaction. This article examines the emergence of long-term everyday border-crossing practices between Norway and Russia in the High North region and the extent to which they have been contested or continued in situations of tension or conflict between the West and Russia, and especially following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Studying how these communities of doers engage in shared repertoires and practices that transcend and blur, rather than challenge the border may also shed new light onhow we understand the relationship between international politics and local politics. Arguably, the social dynamics of such boundary-work have also contributed to confidence-building and low tension, also beyond the border on which it takes place.