Politics and business in the Barents Region

Sammanfattning: Since the end of the Cold War, co-operation across the former Iron Curtain has been considered a key issue for future prosperity both in the East and West of Europe. Public and private actors of all kinds have developed relations in this complicated cross-border setting and certain qualitatively new aspects of this development inspired this research effort. Within the political sphere, the participation of sub-national government bodies in different co-operation schemes signified a component of regionalisation in the processes at hand. Within business, not only large transnational corporations (TNCs) but also small andmedium-sized enterprises (SMEs) engaged in foreign direct investment (FDI) activities indicated a new dynamic at play. I decided to inquire into the harm or benefit of certain types of linkages between politics and business in this context and made it my over-riding research problem to investigate when, how, and under what circumstances transnational region-building may contribute to the development of transnational business activity.Inter-regional co-operation and other political co-operation initiatives in the Barents Region were analysed and related to the problem reality transnational firms faced in the Russian part of the region. The transnational relations perspective was modified as a power-dependence framework, according to which the dynamics of transnational regionbuilding rests with the actors entering the stage, the resources they possess and the interactions set in motion by their needs.The analysis suggested a role for transnational region-building in the development of transnational business. Inter-regional co-operation arrangements may reduce risk and uncertainty for transnational firms if their problems are placed on the agenda for cooperation. In particular small and medium-sized firms with limited political influence atother levels of government might draw advantages from the existence of inter-regionalco-operation. To release the full potential of transnational region-building, however ,requires the identification and conscious management of resource-interdependencies between different tiers of government and business actors. It further seems the conditions for making investments in Russia require top priority treatment in co-operation at all levels of government if east-west economic relations are to deepen.