Abstract
Legal regulation of socio-cultural processes taking place in the Barents Euro-Arctic Region (BEAR) is not effective without involving indigenous communities, which is a specific population group representing the traditional ethno-cultural landscape of the region, unchanged for centuries and affected by globalization. Owing to the cross-border nature of the BEAR, socio-cultural characteristics acquire special synergetic properties determining the vectors of intergovernmental cooperation. With areas of its land making up the largest part of the BEAR, Russia seems to be the key actor in its socio-cultural development. It is difficult to estimate the progress of the unity without understanding the legal and political background of Russia in the field of indigenous issues. This paper sheds light on the policy and regulations on indigenous-related issues in Russia by examining five cases of regions which are part of the Russian Arctic Zone and the BEAR members. The authors compare the essential actions and measures the Russian Arctic regions have taken for complying with the international indigenous agenda. The paper also makes an effort to examine the potential for cooperation in the BEAR through establishing institutional, political and legal mechanisms. The conclusion arrived at is that Russia needs to take major steps to ensure progress and development of its part of the BEAR and to contribute to the BEAR development by fostering further discussion and cooperation on indigenous rights, joint decision-making, clean environment, education and native languages, peace and security.
Highlights
The Barents Region, sometimes referred to as the Barents Euro-Arctic Region, is a young and newly defined region comprising northern parts of Russia, Norway, Finland and Sweden
The social and cultural development of the Barents Euro-Arctic Region (BEAR) depends on a variety of factors and trends taking place in all of its member states, Russia included
In Russia, political and legal initiatives introduced in the last decade aim at balancing the social, economic and cultural interests of the indigenous peoples living in the Arctic regions in the situation where state-supported industrial ‘megaprojects’ are being developed in the same territories
Summary
Socio-cultural characteristics of the Russian Indigenous communities in the Barents region: Political and legal perspectives. Legal regulation of socio-cultural processes taking place in the Barents Euro-Arctic Region (BEAR) is not effective without involving indigenous communities, which is a specific population group representing the traditional ethno-cultural landscape of the region, unchanged for centuries and affected by globalization. It is difficult to estimate the progress of the unity without understanding the legal and political background of Russia in the field of indigenous issues. This paper sheds light on the policy and regulations on indigenousrelated issues in Russia by examining five cases of regions which are part of the Russian Arctic Zone and the BEAR members. The paper makes an effort to examine the potential for cooperation in the BEAR through establishing institutional, political and legal mechanisms.
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