Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2002, Page 35

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The Significance of Transnational
Cooperation in Nordic Atlantic Regions*
Týdningurin av Tvørtjóða Samstarvi í Norðuratlantsøkinum
Jørgen Ole Bærenholdt
Department of Geography and International Development Studies, Roskilde University, P.O.Box 260,
DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark; E-mail: job@ruc.dk
Úrtak
Geinin viðger tvey sløg av tvørtjóða samstarvi: The
Nordic Atlantic Cooperalion/ Norrønt Atlantssamstarv
(NORA) og The Barents Euro-Arctic Region (BEAR).
Hesir felagsskapir eru dømi um tvey sløg av tvørtjóða
samstarvi, tann fyrri leggur dent á politikk á lágstigi og
tann seinni á politikk á hástigi, Teir fata eisini um sera
ymisk øki: NORA fatar um Grønland, ísland, Føroyar
og Noregs strendur, og BEAR fatar um norðaru par-
tarnar av Noregi, Svørfki, Finnlandi og evropiska partin
av Russlandi. Dømini verða borin saman í mun til
møguligu almannabúskaparligu ávirkanina, ið teir f
royndum hava á fiskiskapin. Møguleikarnir verða kan-
naðir á trimum stigum: A hástigi verður umrøtt, hvønn
týdning lógliga støðan hjá økjunum hevur fyri tvørtjóða
samstarv. Á miðstigi verður samstarv viðvíkjandi til-
feingisstýring, háttalagi og marknaðarførslu f fiskiskapi
kannað. Og á lágstigi verður umrøtt, hvussu øki stinga
seg upp við nýskapan. Royndartilfarið savnar seg fyrst
og fremst um tíðarskeiðið fyrst og mitt í 1990-árunum.
Abstract
The article investigates two different cases of transna-
tional cooperation: The Nordic Atlantic Cooperation
(NORA) and The Barents Euro-Arctic Region (BEAR).
The two cases represent different forms of transnational
cooperation, the former with emphasis on low politics
and the latter on liigh politics. They also include very
different regions: NORA covers Greenland, Iceland,
Faroe Islands and coastal Norway, while BEAR in-
cludes northern regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland
and European Russia. The cases are compared in rela-
tion to their possible socio-economic effects in practice
in fisheries. Possibilities are investigated on three levels:
Ori the macro-level, it is discussed what does the legal
status of regions rnean to transnational cooperation. On
the meso-level, the article investigates cooperation in re-
source management, processing and marketing in fish-
eries. And on the micro-level, it is discussed how inno-
vative regions emerge. The empirical material has its
main focus on the early and mid 1990s.
Introduction
What is the reality behind the idea of a “Eu-
rope of the Regions”? How would it affect
the físhing communities of the North At-
lantic, and what would the ‘face’ of a “Eu-
rope of the Regions” look like in the North
Atlantic?
The main aim of this paper is to investi-
gate and discuss the potential for transna-
tional cooperation, and the barriers facing
it, in the regions dependent on fisheries in
north-west Russia and the Nordic Atlantic
regions, i.e. Northern and Western Norway,
the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland.
To this end, the paper evaluates two some-
what different kinds of formalised regional
*) The article is published in the memory of Peter A. Friis, who encouraged the article to be written for a planned
publication, before he died in 1999.
Fróðskaparrit 50. bók 2002: 33-55