Indigenous agency in global systems

The article addresses expanding of global economic systems by studying Sámi strategies addressing Norwegian High Northern Policies (NHNP) launched by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2005. NHNP attracted global economy, labour and knowledge to the Arctic region. The Sámi responding are analysed by using agency theories in economic geography, and contributes to expand the content of agencies e.g. by understanding its embedding in specific historical shaped structures as well as in debates on new opportunity spaces in the wake of globalism. The study demonstrates three strategies debated and launched by the Sámi Parliament: (i) In grounding its resistance the Sámi Parliament argued that the entry of international industries into areas with Sámi population threaten the fundamental conditions for Sámi livelihood. (ii) By entering global governance the parliament emphasized the importance of Sámi negotiation with multinational companies in global governance frameworks. (iii) And by changing the historical understanding of Sámi territories in order to include research and higher education milieus outside remote rural districts

Coping with declining income opportunities in Norwegian rural households

Deindustrialization as well as a dramatic decrease of the labour needed in food production characterise the development on the Norwegian countryside the recent decades. This analysis examines how rural households in danger of losing income opportunities develop new income strategies in remote Norwegian areas. The regional restructuring processes have brought rural households different possibilities of making a living. The analysis takes its principal starting points in four strategic positions of rural households. They are with and without landholdings, and close and remote from urban areas. The analysis in the article puts focus on households in the most remote areas of rural Norway. I show that the households in Norwegian rural districts have maintained their traditional way of coping with the declining economic opportunities by exploiting the specific Norwegian characteristics of rural areas: the common access to land and marine resources. This kind of income obtaining is supplied by incomes from the local labour market. These strategies have their origin in the rural system of socialising which encourages the rural people to take care of their inheritance and qualify for the rural labour market. Furthermore some households without access to land areas develop several business activities that are being shared among the household members.La désindustrialisation ainsi que la baisse dramatique de main-d’œuvre nécessaire à la production alimentaire caractérisent le développement des campagnes norvégiennes ces dernières décennies. Cette analyse examine comment des ménages ruraux menacés par la perte de leurs revenus développent de nouvelles stratégies de revenus dans des régions norvégiennes reculées. Les processus régionaux de restructuration ont rendu possible différentes façons de gagner sa vie. Cette analyse se base essentiellement sur quatre positions stratégiques des ménages ruraux: ceux-ci sont des propriétaires terriens ou non et se situent à proximité ou loin de régions urbaines. L’analyse de l’article se focalise sur les ménages des régions rurales reculées de Norvège. Nous montrerons qu’ils ont maintenu leur façon traditionnelle de lutter contre la diminution des opportunités économiques en exploitant les caractéristiques norvégiennes spécifiques des régions rurales, c’est-à-dire l’accès collectif à la terre et aux ressources marines. Cette façon de gagner sa vie est complétée par des revenus du marché du travail local. Ces stratégies prennent leur origine dans le système rural de socialisation qui encourage les habitants des campagnes à s’occuper de leur héritage et à se présenter sur le marché du travail rural. De plus, certains ménages sans accès à la terre développent différentes activités commerciales qui sont partagées au sein du ménage

Sámi agency in economic development processes in the Norwegian High North

The emergence of the Sámi Parliament has lifted Norwegian Sámi politics into an international discourse on indigenous peoples. The clearest imprints of the new Sámi political space are found in the High North region of Norway, where the Sámi account for a significant proportion of the population. The article shows to what extent and how Sámi agency affects governance structures and business development in the north in an increasingly globalised economic setting. From its origin, Sámi agency has influenced development in the High North through three processes: the first is through the Sámi institution building and strengthening of Sámi communities; the second is through its links to local and regional societal development; and the third is through the role of Sámi politics in globalised development processes. One main finding is that the boundaries between these links to the surrounding environment have become more diffuse. Sámi agency is taking a more important role in the economic development processes in the High North, often in terms of the local and regional processes, and now also within the increasingly important globalised economic modernisation processes in which inclusion in new multi-level governance structures is important

Samepolitikkens plass i utviklingsprosesser i nord

I løpet av de siste 30 årene har framveksten av Sametinget og andre samiske institusjoner løftet samepolitikken inn i en internasjonal urfolksdiskurs, hvor samiske rettigheter er styrket gjennom norsk støtte til internasjonale konvensjoner. De tydeligste avtrykkene av samepolitikken finnes i Finnmark, der samer utgjør en betydelig andel av befolkningen og Sametinget er lokalisert. Temaet for denne artikkelen er hvorvidt, og hvordan, samepolitikken påvirker næringsutvikling og modernisering i nord. Artikkelen trekker opp tre hovedtyper for samepolitisk påvirkning; i den ene ser vi på samepolitikkens tilknytning til mer interne samiske institusjoner og samfunnsliv; den andre gjelder samepolitikkens påkobling til lokal og regional samfunnsutvikling; og den tredje handler om samepolitikkens rolle i større og mer globaliserte utviklingsprosesser. Et hovedfunn er at grensene mellom disse hovedtypene er blitt mer porøse. Samepolitikken spiller en stadig viktigere rolle i de økonomiske utviklingsprosessene i nord, både de mer lokale og regionale og nå også de stadig viktigere globaliserte økonomiske moderniseringsprosessene. Den økonomiske globaliseringen setter likevel et stadig sterkere press på samepolitikkens sterke tradisjonsorientering

Building a High North Growth Pole: The Northern Norwegian City of Hammerfest in the Wake of Developing the "Snow White" Barents Sea Gas field

Source at https://journals.brandonu.ca/jrcd/index.Global oil industries are moving from well-established economic centres to remote areas in the north. This paper addresses regional impacts, and links the analyses and discussions to theories embedded in Keynes inspired ideas from the 1950'ies of state opportunities to build growth poles in peripheries by governing entering industries. The article analyses changes in the North-Norwegian city of Hammerfest for the period of 2002-2008 during which time the Snow White gas field was developed and includes local supplies positions, local employment changes; commuting patterns; demographic shifts; variation in youth attitude concerning future living; vicissitudes in local housing markets; local tax system changes; local welfare; and gender relations changes. Keywords: global oil industry companies; regional impacts; growth pole strategies; Norwa

Med OECD til Nord-Norge

Organisasjon for økonomisk samarbeid og utvikling (OECD) var nyleg ei veke i Nord-Noreg som ein del av ei vurdering det gjer av muligheter for utvikling i tynt busette område i nord. Vurderinga inkluderer 14 regionar, der Nordland, Troms og Finnmark inngår. OECD skal gje råd om korleis regionane i nord i Europa kan komma godt ut i den globale økonomiske konkurransen sjølv om dei er langt unna dei store marknadane

Næringskombinasjoner 1997-2000

Rapporten er en evaluering av Sametingets driftsstøtte til næringskombinasjoner. Evalueringen skal gi svar på om næringskombinasjonsordningen oppfyller målene som er gitt om inntekter og sysselsetting, kulturell kontinuitet og bosetting. Evalueringen tar også for seg driftstilskuddets nytte for kombinasjonsutøvere, samt svakheter i dokumentasjonen som ligger til grunn for å få støtte