An Arctic 'marriage of inconvenience': Norway and the othering of Russia

摘要

This article discusses how Norwegian foreign policy toward the Arctic is closely linked to the often vague but central concept of national identity, and the crucial role Russia plays as a 'significant other' to Norway in the North. The author draws on an extensive empirical analysis of Norwegian foreign policy in the Arctic since 2005, and combines this with a discussion of discourse and national identity in light of elements from post-structuralist International Relations (IR) theory. The article contributes to a better understanding of how post-structuralist IR theory and the concept of national identity can be understood and operationalized when analyzing Arctic foreign policy, in particular, and International Relations generally.