Researcher
Helge Blakkisrud
Contactinfo and files
Summary
Helge Blakkisrud’s main research interests include Russian federalism and centre–region relations, in particular, the development of the institution of governors. Research interests also include Russia's High North/Arctic policy, nationality policy and Russian nationalism, as well as processes of state-building and nation-building in Eurasia, especially in Eurasian de facto states.
Blakkisrud is editor of Nordisk Østforum, a Nordic peer-reviewed journal for Russian and East European studies.
He has been a guest lecturer at the OSCE Academy, Bishkek, since 2008. In 2009–2010, he was a Fulbright Visiting Fellow at UC Berkeley.
Expertise
Education
1996- PhD-programme (Political Science), University of Oslo
1995 Cand.Polit. (Political Science) from University of Oslo. Dissertation: De russiske minoritetene i Estland og Latvia. Minoriteters responsstrategier ved endrede rammebetingelser
Work Experience
1995 Senior Research Fellow/Head of Research Group on Russia, Asia and International Trade, NUPI
2018- Part time position, Norwegian University Centre, St Petersburg
1995- OSCE Election Observer (various elections in Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Bosnia-Herzegovina)
1994- Editor in Chief, Nordisk Østforum (Nordic Journal of East European and Post-Soviet Studies
1994 Member of the CSSE Mission in Latvia. Leader of the Mission's mobile team
Aktivitet
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Clear all filtersAfterword: 6400 kilometers away - but not a policy world apart
The Afterword presents two key findings from this volume. First, while numerous new strategy documents and instruments have been adopted in recent years, contributing authors voice concern about the steps Moscow has taken to translate lofty ideas into practical policies. Second, the key initiatives were formulated well before the current crisis in Russia's relations with the West. While a certain rebalancing of the Western and Eastern vectors is taking place, there is still a long way to go before Russia's 'window to the East' can match its 'window to the West'. Only long-term commitment on the part of Moscow can transform the Russian Far East from a neglected periphery and military outpost into a viable gateway to the Asia-Pacific.
Great Powers and Arctic Politics (GPARC)
GPARC aims to provide up-to-date academic and policy analyses of how major powers (USA, Russia, China) set parameters for and intervene in the maritime politics of the Arctic....
Mannen, myten og utenrikspolitikken: Putin som utenrikspolitisk aktør
I henhold til den russiske grunnloven tilligger utenriks- og forsvarspolitikk formelt presidentens domene. Etter at Putin nå i snart tjue år har vært med på å prege politikken, er det etter hvert vanskelig å skille mellom hva som er Putins personlige stil og påvirkning og hva som representerer grunntonen og de lengre linjer i russisk utenrikspolitikk. Men hvor står Putin ved inngangen til sin fjerde – og i henhold til grunnloven siste – presidentperiode? Hva kjennetegner ham som person og politiker? Og hva kan vi forvente fra Putin på den utenrikspolitiske arenaen i løpet av den neste seksårsperioden?
Russia's Turn to the East - Domestic Policymaking and Regional Cooperation
This book is open access under a CC BY license. This book explores if and how Russian policies towards the Far East region of the country – and East Asia more broadly – have changed since the onset of the Ukraine crisis and Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Following the 2014 annexation and the subsequent enactment of a sanctions regime against the country, the Kremlin has emphasized the eastern vector in its external relations. But to what extent has Russia’s 'pivot to the East' intensified or changed in nature – domestically and internationally – since the onset of the current crisis in relations with the West? Rather than taking the declared 'pivot' as a fact and exploring the consequences of it, the contributors to this volume explore whether a pivot has indeed happened or if what we see today is the continuation of longer-duration trends, concerns and ambitions.
Armenia-Turkey Relations – torn between past and future
Vahram Ter-Matevosyan talks about the complicated relationship between Turkey and Armenia, a situation that has been at a standstill for the past 26 years.
Regime Development and Patron–Client Relations: The 2016 Transnistrian Presidential Elections and the "Russia Factor"
In December 2016, Transnistria held presidential elections in which, after an exceptionally loud and dirty campaign, the incumbent yielded power to his main opponent. This article explores regime evolution in the breakaway republic through the prism of these elections. First, drawing on the literature on hybrid regimes, we ask what the recent campaign can tell us about regime evolution in Transnistria. Second, arguing that, in the case of Eurasian de facto states, this literature must be complemented by a discussion of the role of the patron state, we then turn to the importance of the "Russia factor." We conclude by arguing that, due to Transnistria's dependency on its Moscow patron, this factor always looms large – but not necessarily in the ways that might be expected.
Book symposium. The new Russian nationalism: imperialism, ethnicity and authoritarianism 2000–2015
From the symposium: 'The New Russian Nationalism: Imperialism, Ethnicity and Authoritarianism 2000–15 is a timely volume that presents readers with a rich and up-to-date analysis of the content of, contestation over, and consequences of Russian nationalism under Putin. The editors brought together the very top names in the study of Russian nationalism from North America, Europe, and Russia, and the end result is an impressive collection of chapters analyzing issues such as changes and continuity and nuances of public opinion in Russia; the (dis)similarities between historical, early post-Soviet, and most recent debates over Russian national identity; the relationship between growing authoritarianism and the recent ethnification of Russian nationalism; the role played by religion, television, economics; and more.'
Stavropol as "Russia's Kosovo"? Nationalist mobilization and public response in a Russian region
Russian nationalism after Crimea is commonly depicted as aggressive and expansionist – but few Russian ethno-nationalists would accept this description. Quite the contrary: they would argue that ethnic Russians as the majority population find themselves under “under siege” from ethnic minorities. A case in point, they hold, is Stavropol Krai in the North Caucasus. In local ethno-nationalist circles this region is depicted as “Russia’s Kosovo,” a glaring example of the Kremlin’s betrayal of ethnic Russian interests. This article presents a case study of the under-researched regional dimension of Russian nationalism. The purpose is twofold: to map regional ethno-nationalist discourse and, drawing on survey data, to explore to what extent this discourse is reflected in general attitudes toward the influx of migrants and plans for own migration. We find that local ethno-nationalists have succeeded in mobilizing support at the national level, but that, despite increased ethnic tensions in Stavropol Krai, few Russians contemplate leaving.
Russia's turn to the East: The Ministry for the Development of the Far East, and the domestic dimension
Russia’s recently proclaimed turn toward Asia is fuelled by expectations of reaping benefits from integrating with the fast-growing markets of Northeast Asia. However, such a geoeconomic reorientation requires a viable springboard in the Russian Far East. For all the talk about Asia–Pacific markets, a key component of the Asian pivot is Russia’s own Far Eastern region, an underdeveloped, crisis-ridden backwater that currently constitutes a ‘double periphery’ – in relation to Moscow, and to the Asia–Pacific (Kuhrt 2012).
Female heroes in a man's world: The construction of female heroes in Kyrgyzstan's symbolic nation-building
This article explores how Kurmanzhan Datka and other female heroes fit into the heavily male-dominated narrative traditionally promoted by Kyrgyz nation-builders. From a reading of state-approved secondary school history textbooks, the article traces the construction of female heroes and discusses how this construction contributes to the gender dimension of Kyrgyz nation-building: What values do these female symbols appear to represent? Which roles have they been assigned in the process of Kyrgyz nation-building? And what consequences may this have for the reproduction of hegemonic gender conceptions?