Suchergebnisse

Once Upon the Permafrost: Knowing Culture and Climate Change in Siberia, by Susan Alexandra Crate. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2021, x +327 pp. ISBN: 978-0-8165-4155-3

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After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States sought to increase its influence in Western Europe and Central Asia. The primary military mechanism used to increase presence and ideological influence was the State Partnership Program. This program, modeled heavily after the Norwegian Reciprocal Troop Exchange, used reserve forces instead of active duty forces to lessen the aggression levels perceived by Russian command. This use of reserve forces gave individual American states a greater degree of involvement in international military operations. Since the creation of the State Partnership Program, 65 state/country partnerships have been established. The goals have also shifted from a purely military focus to a more infrastructural bent. By examining the motivations for involving reserve military forces through both realist and neoliberal lenses, this paper examines degree to which different causes influenced the creation of the State Partnership Program, and how these theories influence the continued operations of these military partnerships. The US-Norway and US-Poland partnerships were chosen as case studies, as each was established on strong military and democratic foundations. These different methods of analysis found that there were significant realist intents in beginning these partnerships, but that there is neoliberal purpose for maintaining the partnerships. This analysis shows there are potentially larger implications for partnering states with countries than just lessening perceived aggression. States have a higher capacity to specialize, can share cultural and ancestral identities, and can supports countries in their attempts to join international partnerships and IGOs.

An Urban Future for Sápmi? Indigenous Urbanization in the Nordic States and Russia. Mikkel Berg-Nordlie, Astri Dankertsen, and Marte Winsvold (eds.) (New York: Berghahn Books, 2022, Studies in the Circumpolar North Series), xvi +281 pp. ISBN: 978-1800-732-643.
Earth, Ice, Bone, Blood: Permafrost and Extinction in the Russian Arctic. Charlotte Wrigley. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2023), 236 pp. ISBN: 978-1517911829.