Barentsinstituttet & the RSCPR research group jointly present a guest lecture by Professor Ilkka Liikanen (Research Director at the Karelian Institute, UEF)
"My talk will address the history of Northern Dimension (ND) policies in the context of the formation of EU policies of external relations. Based on an empirical study of Finnish policy priorities during different phases of initiating, reforming, and reconsidering ND policies, I will analyse how national policy tasks concerning Russia have been updated to support and shape the agenda and institutionalization of EU policies.
I will pay a particular attention to how Northern Dimension policies met the multilayered security challenges of the period between 1995 and present; how it corresponded with the building of the EU’s global role and the launching of European Neighbourhood Policy, and, on the other hand, with national foreign policies and the regional level cross-border cooperation.
I will focus especially on the role of regional cooperation and the notion of 'areas of shared policies' in building the EU-Russia relations and, more broadly, in the formation of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policies. Finally, I will discuss briefly how to assess Northern Dimension policies in the context of the changes in European security environment caused by the Russian aggressive politics and brutal warfare in Ukraine".