International Summer School in Karelia “Sovereignty in the Barents Euro- Arctic Region”.

From May 18 to May 25, 2014 International summer school in Karelia “Sovereignty in the Barents Euro-Arctic Region” was conducted at Petrozavodsk State University. The school was organized in the framework of the project “Establishing the EC Centre in the Barents Region of Russia” implemented under financial support of the European Union. 40 people took part in the school. Among Russian participants there were guests fromPetrozavodskandSt. Petersburg, among foreign participants – guests fromFinland,France, theUSA,Hungary,SloveniaandCanada. PetrSU was represented by students from the Faculty of Law, Philology and Faculty of Political and Social Sciences. The lecturers of the school are doctor of science, Arctic policy professor of the University of Lapland Lassi Heininen, head of educational programs of Aleksanteri Institute of the University of Helsinki Tapani Kaakkuriniem, researcher from Lapland University Jussi Huotari and National School of Public Administration Joel Plouffe, professor of Department of Theory and History of International Relations of the Faculty of International Relations of St. Petersburg State University Alexander Sergunin, deputy head of the Department of History of Nordic Countries of PetrSU Faculty of History  Ilya Solomesch, associate professor, candidate of political sciences, International Relations Department of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences of PetrSU Gleb Yarovoy.  

The programme of the school included two main kinds of work: lecturers and discussions within work groups. While working in the groups, students and lecturers could discuss all questions connected with the main topic of the day and which were interesting for the participants. This kind of work allowed to examine the essential questions from different perspectives, and to share opinions in a free form.

In the framework of the school such issues as sovereignty and federalism, sovereignty in international relations, in the Arctic region, the issue of state sovereignty and energy, cross border cooperation, etc. 

On May 23, 2014 the joint session of International summer school and the fourth international research and practical conference “Innovation and Safe Cooperation in the Barents/Euro-Arctic Region” was conducted at the premises ofKarelianResearchCenterof theRussianAcademyof Sciences. The organizers of the conference were the National Institute for the Research of Global Security, Karelian Research Center of RAS and non-commercial partnership “Center for the Problems of the North,Arcticand Cross-Border Cooperation”. The conference was also supported byDiplomaticAcademy,RussianAcademyof Natural Sciences, Russian Foundation of High Technologies, society “Znanie” (Knowledge) of Russia, Moscow State Institute of International Relations and the International and Norwegian Barents Secretariats.

The conference had three sections: “plenary papers”, “The Barents/Euro-Arctic Region on the Modern Stage: from Contacts to Innovation Contracts” and “International Cooperation and Public Diplomacy in the Barents/Euro-Arctic Region”.      

Along with the participants of the school there were the following representatives: Jury Saveliev, vice-chairman of Karelian Research Center of Russian Academy of Sciences, doctor of Economics, Anatoly Smirnov, president of the National Institute for the Research of Global Security, presidium member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Vladimir Soldatin, assistant of the head of the Republic of Karelia, Remi Strand, deputy of provincial assembly of Finnmark, Norway, Alexander Yevlakhov, deputy chairman of the Board of the Society “Knowledge” of Russia, Lev Voronkov, prof. of the Center for North European Research of Moscow State Institute of International Relations, doctor of historical sciences., prof. Vasiliy Koval’, consul general of Russia in Kirkenes (1997-2001), Russian Federation minister extraordinary and plenipotentiary, candidate of legal sciences, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Vladimir Masloboev, vice-chairman of Kola Research Center of RAS, director of the Institute of North Industrial Ecology Problems of Kola Research Center of RAS, doctor of technical sciences, prof., academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Volan Arild, managing partner of the company Arctic Development, David Aptekar, executive director of closely held corporation “Institute of Power Electronics” , Markku Pirinen, manager of the project “Development of Technologies of Arctic Construction Materials”, Lappeenranta University of Technology/ Central Research Institute of Construction Materials “Prometey”, St. Petersburg, doctor of technical sciences, Daniel Martseniuk, Third secretary of the Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in Petrozavodsk, Igor Shevchuk, director of the non-commercial partnership “North-Centre”.

Assessment forms show that the participants of the school have positive attitude towards organization, content and format of school. They point out that it also has practical significance for them.