Occasionally a book arrives that, in one sweep, dramatically increases the available knowledge on a topic. The multi-authored book, The Changing Governance of Renewable Resources in Northwest Russia, edited by Soili Nystén-Haarala, is one such contribution. It represents the results of a research project funded by the Academy of Finland's programme, "Russia in Flux," 2004-2007.
The book is valuable because it represents both a depth of scholarship and an accumulation of experience that are difficult to over-estimate. While most of the authors are either from the region, or from neighbouring regions in northern Sweden and Finland, they have all worked in international contexts. Although students of its two main organizing concepts, governance and path dependency, will also find it interesting, the book's main strength is its foundation in the impressive range of empirical work carried out by the authors, in situ and with considerable inconvenience.
As anyone who has ever worked in Northwest Russia knows, even the smallest steps are hard-won, and this group of authors has certainly been persistent. The issues that slow research there are often the same as those faced in overcoming problems in respect of managing the natural resources of the region, and in that sense the book represents a genuine achievement.
The complex intertwining, overlapping and often contradictory layers and shells of bureaucracy, regimes, tacit knowledge and multi-cultural interactions present a considerable puzzle, whether trying, for example, to arrange interviews, or struggling to set up a venture in fishing, logging, or reindeer-herding.
The detailed analyses of how these renewable natural resource industries have changed in accordance with various legal, institutional and organisational constraints and opportunities provides a solid basis for understanding the challenges faced by any actor in the region. Even if the region seemed to have been forgotten by Moscow for some time, its resources are now increasingly controlled from there. Whether following the path, or path-breaking, beware.
Review of The Changing Governance of Renewable Resources in Northwest Russia, edited by Soili Nystén-Haarala. Ashgate Publishing, 2009. 265 pp.
Review by Richard Langlais