Mastering the Arctic? Political Culture and colonialism in the Russian Far North

Abstract

This case study of colonialism in the Russian Arctic asks (1) Why is Moscow attempting to (re)colonize its Arctic region? (2) How can we understand the relationship between the Russian state and its Arctic region/residents? (3) What are the foundations of this relationship and how entrenched are they? It finds that internal and resource colonialism are occurring, that Moscow’s current colonialist practices are a continuation of practices from the imperial and Soviet eras, and that this continuity has its roots in Russia’s political culture. Here, colonialism has been motivated by economic and security concerns, aka, “colonialism as security.” The research comes from policy documents, news articles, historical texts, etc. Critical discourse, thematic, and comparative historical analyses all served to provide a thick explanation of the situation in the Russian Arctic. It is of interest for political science, Russian and Arctic studies, and security studies.