UNESCO Social and Human Sciences
 
You are in the MOST Phase I website (1994-2003).
The MOST Phase II website is available at: www.unesco.org/shs/most.
 

 
This MOST Project is no longer funded by UNESCO. However, due to its successful completion, it has secured its sustainability through other financial partnerships.


MOST Circumpolar Coping Processes Project (CCPP)

Coping locally and regionally with economic, technological and
environmental transformations : a northern circumpolar perspective
(Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Russia and Sweden)


 
  • The Reflexive North edited by Nils Aarsæther (Tromsø) and Jørgen Ole Bærenholdt, Copenhagen, Nordic Council of Minsters, 2001.

Meetings


Statement of the problem :

In the area stretching from Northeast Canada, via Greenland and the Nordic countries to Northwest Russia, communities and regions face potential marginalization. The aim of the project is to identify and analyse the coping processes, especially those processes developing within a "bottom-up" strategy, involving joint efforts of local authorities, civil society actors and enterprise networks. The methodology will be based on a comparative case approach, in which the central-local aspects will be covered. The current state of research has provided us with concepts like civil societies, empowerment, networking, governance, local knowledge, embeddedness ; concepts based on theories of a dynamic interplay between local actors and external institutions, an understanding that may enhance the potential of overcoming development problems.
The investigations of the problem - coping strategies in the face of marginalization - will be carried out by implying tools and theories from the disciplines of Sociology, Social Anthropology, Political Science and Human Geography. 

Participating Institutions and Researchers :

Department of Planning and Community Studies, University of Tromsø, Norway;
NORS (North Atlantic Regional Studies), Department of Geography, Roskilde University, Denmark;
NORUT Social Science Research, Tromsø, Norway;
Department of Social Sciences, Roskilde University, Denmark;
Norwegian Fisheries College, University of Tromsø, Norway;
University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland;
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada;
Institute of Economic Problems, Kola Science Centre, Apatity, Russia;
Expert Group on Regional Development, Østerssund, Sweden;
CERUM, Umeå University, Sweden;
University of Greenland, Nuuk;
University of the Faroe Islands, Torshavn;
University of Iceland, Reykjavik;
ISER, Memorial University, St, John, New Foundland, Canada;
Department of Geography, University of Bergen, Norway;
Karelian Institute, University of Joensuu, Finland;
Nordland Research, Bodø, Norway;
Nordic Sami Institute, Kaitokaino;
North Norway department, Norwegian Institute of Urban and Regional Research, Alta;
Bornholm Research Centre, Nexø, Denmark.

In addition, a number of officials, political leaders, entrepreneurs and researchers, outside the institutions mentioned, will participate in the research process. 

Project Co-ordinators :

Jørgen Ole Bærenholdt
Roskilde University
Department of Geography and International Development Studies
Building 21.2
P.O. Box 260
DK-4000 Roskilde Denmark
Tel: +45 46 75 77 11 Ext. 2155/2573
Fax: +45 46 75 42 40
E-mail: job@geo.ruc.dk

Nils Aarsæther
University of Tromsø
Department of Planning and community studies
N-9037 Tromsø Norway
Tel: +47 77 64 42 98
Fax: +47 77 64 64 70
E-mail: Nilsaa@isv.uit.no

The MOST CCPP secretariat:

(research officer: Jochen Peters)
Department of Community and Planning Studies
Faculty of Social Sciences
University of Tromsø
N-9037 Tromsø, Norway
Tel: +47 77 64 55 21
Fax: +47 77 64 64 70
E-mail: jochen@sv.uit.no

Co-ordination UNESCO/MOST :

Cecilie Golden
Fax: 01 45 68 57 24
E-mail: c.golden@unesco.org

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