Unusual Regionalism in Northern Europe: The Barents Region in the Making

Zimmerbauer K. Unusual regionalism in Northern Europe: the Barents Region in the making, Regional Studies. This paper focuses on the institutionalization of the supra-national Barents Region, which is located in the extreme north of Europe and consists of the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. The aim is to scrutinize how this newly conceived region has become institutionalized as a manifestation of business-oriented regionalist aspirations and international geopolitics. The case study contributes to the ongoing discussions on the power of regionalism and the construction of regional competitiveness. These discussions are set against the issues of identity within emerging regional spaces. The analysis is also linked to the advocates/activists dichotomy and the controversial relational turn in regional geography.