Book review on “Russia’s far North: the contested energy frontier, 1st edition”

Robert Orttung, Associate Research Professor from the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, USA, wrote a book review on the “Russia’s Far North – The Contested Energy Frontier”. The book is edited by professors Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen, Shinichiro Tabata, Daria Gritsenko and Masanori Goto and was published a year ago by Routledge. The book review was published in the Eurasian Geography and Economics journal. Professor Orttung comes to conclusion that “This book provides an excellent overview of the issues that shape Russia’s Arctic today. Given its approachable style and wealth of information, it is useful for both students learning about the area for the first time and experts who already have a base of knowledge”:

The multi-disciplinary, multi-national author collective represents some of the leading Russian scholars in Finland and Japan. These countries bracket Russia on the west
and east and both have long and complex histories with the land of the czars, soviets,
and the personalized, hybrid, and surprisingly dynamic but simultaneously stagnant
contemporary state.
This useful edited volume provides us with a variety of tools to understand where
Russia’s north is headed. The contributions range from straightforward economic
analysis to a discussion of the artist Ivan Bilibin’s folkloric book illustrations.

Read the full book review online here.

Russia’s Far North available online

The book “Russia’s Far North. The Contested Energy Frontier” has been made available online.

The Russian Far North is immensely rich in resources, both energy and other resources, and is also one of the least developed regions of Russia. This book presents a comprehensive overview of the region. It examines resource issues and the related environmental problems, considers the Arctic and the problems of sea routes, maritime boundaries and military build-up, assesses economic development, and considers the ethnic peoples of the region and also cultural and artistic subjects. Overall, the book provides a rich appraisal of how the region is likely to develop in future.

Get the electronic version here.

Russia’s Far North – The Contested Energy Frontier

On the Aleksanteri Institute website an article was published about the new book Russia’s Far North – The Contested Energy Frontier, published earlier this month and edited by professors Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen, Shinichiro Tabata, Daria Gritsenko and Masanori Goto. This book is a final publication of the  “Russia’s final energy frontier – Sustainability challenges of the Russian Far North” Finnish-Japanese research project.

More information on the book and ordering details are available on the publisher’s website.

Russia’s Far North symposium at Hokkaido University

Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen, Daria Gritsenko, and Jussi Huotari from our research team participated in the Russia’s Far North: Contested Energy Frontier symposium at the Slavic-Eurasian Research Center (SRC) at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan on 6th-8th of July. This symposium was organised within the same-titled 3-year cooperation project between Finland and Japan, co-funded by the Academy of Finland and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Jussi Huotari presented his research “Oil and gas corporations in the Russian Arctic: Environment liability vs social responsibility?” at the young researcher’s seminar. Daria Gritsenko gave a talk on the topic of “The Structuration Approach to Arctic Seaport Development: The Case of Sabetta”  and the session “The New Northeast Passage: Nature, Shipping and Trade in North Asia” of the main symposium, Veli-Pekka was one of the discussants at the session. Later he presented the paper “Greening Regional Energy Policies in the Russian Arctic? Encountering State Energopower in Archangelsk and Karelia” at the session “Selling the Arctic: The Uneasy Coexistence of Business Ventures and Environmental Concerns”.

You can find more information about the symposium at the organizers’ webpage.