Territoriality is approached in this paper by examining the changing relationship between the small group of indigenous Sami people and the nation-states in which they reside. The Sami have for centuries been a geographically peripheral northern group, but they have nevertheless experienced altering conditions of state border demarcations and nationalistic ideologies. The flexible system of Sami villages, siidas, has had a fundamentally different approach to territoriality than the states with their fixed boundary conception. This difference is discussed by using three case studies from the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The examination indicates that it is possible for these different territorialities to meet and co-exist if the state's interests are not compromised. Furthermore, it suggests that the northern regionbuilding processes, such as Barents and Northern Dimension, could benefit from such a flexible territoriality approach.
In the North European border region between the Nordic countries and northwestern Russia, much of cross-border development continues to be steered by public authorities and channelled through programmes which are dominated by public actors-even though the participation of private partners such as businesses and various non-governmental organisations is strongly encouraged. This article examines one case of Northern European peripheral cross-border development by focusing attention on institutionalised co-operation programmes. This chosen approach brings to the fore some of the persistent obstacles and challenges of these development initiatives. Particular attention is paid to institutional conditions of and for collaboration, including administrative and legislative systems or economic and governance mechanisms, social structures, institutional systems and general living conditions across national boundaries. Symmetry between the participating countries' institutional environments is perceived as a necessity for the construction of balanced interdependence as well as the increasing involvement of a variety of actors (e.g. private partners) in the creation of a functional borderland.
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