Borderland Russians / Palgrave Studies in International Relations (PDF)

GEIR HØNNELAND is Research Director at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute and Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Tromsø, Norway. He has published widely on Russian environmental politics and international relations in the European North.

​“I am fully convinced that this book provides a compelling case for the use of fieldwork and ethnographic methods in the study of foreign policy and international security.”  (Southeast European and Black Sea Studies)


'What a great snapshot of everyday identity in a Russian province! Local knowledge has arrived in International Relations'

Iver B. Neumann, Professorof Russian Studies, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and author of Uses of the Other: 'the East' in European Identity Formation

'The book treats one of the hottest and coolest issues in IR, the question of identity, in a well-informed, earnest, lively, humorous and entertaining manner. It solves the "big issues"' and yet makes pertinent observations on what it means to be a Russian, a Notherner, and most interesting, a Borderlander.'

Sergei Medvedev, Professor, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia

'This book is very worth reading, because it gives a good insight into the way of thinking of the Kola Peninsula's ordinary population and, moreover, in a very easily understandable way.'

Polar Record

'Borderland Russians is a good read, and its added value stretches from the local level to the bigger questions dealing with identity-formation and everyday narratives.'

The Russian Review

'This highly readable and engaging work sheds new light on the region of Russia above the Arctic Circle, a neglected area of work in Russian politics, geography, and area studies... The work contributes to debates in international relations about how identities are assigned, how they evolve, and how they are made.'

- CHOICE

'Hønneland introduces very interesting, big themes for the wide public.'

- Nordisk Østforum - Nordic Journal of Russian and East European Affairs

'This is a highly readable book, which thanks to its clear style and absorbing content can be addressed also to readers