Building a Transnational Space for Action
| Author | Jussi Laine |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020881716654407 |
| Published date | 01 January 2013 |
| Date | 01 January 2013 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Building a Transnational
Space for Action: Civil
Society Organizations as
Agents of Change at the
Finnish–Russian Border
Jussi Laine1
Abstract
While the field of international relations has evolved from its positivist prem-
ises—from a single means of understanding world politics towards a more
nuanced and holistic approach—it still remains insufficient to understand the
big picture. Despite recent efforts to broaden the field, it remains tied to great
power politics and its basic unit of analysis remains the state. Independently, it
is incapable of explaining the multilevelled and multiscalar processes that take
place today. In the EU context, the national territory has been deterritorial-
ized, whereby culture, politics and economies have become more transnational.
While the operational preconditions of civil society remain linked with the
operations of broader society surrounding it, there is no reason to assume that
this should always be understood in the frame of a nation-state. Based on the
experience from the Finnish–Russian border, this article argues that while the
territorial sovereignty of the nation-states continues to form one of the lead-
ing principles upon which international relations are based, transnational rela-
tions are run increasingly by actors and organizations whose ability to function
do not stop at the political borders. Owing to the changes in the governance
modes, the state is no longer the primary actor, nor is the nation-state the only
conception of space to be applied in explaining human interactions. The time
has come to approach interactions in post-national terms and conceptualize a
cross-border space, through civil society actor linkages.
Keywords
Civil Society, Transnationalism, Finland, Russia, Border, Neighbourhood
Article
International Studies
50(1&2) 184–202
2016 Jawahalal Nehru University
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0020881716654407
http://isq.sagepub.com
1 Assistant Professor, Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland.
Corresponding author:
Jussi Laine, Yliopistokatu 2 University Of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, FI 80101, Finland.
E-mail: jussi.laine@uef.
Laine 185
Introduction
While the field of International Relations has evolved from its positivist
premises—from a single means of understanding and studying world politics
towards a more nuanced and holistic approach—it still remains insufficient for
understanding the big picture. Despite recent efforts to broaden the field, it
remains tied to great power politics and its basic units of analysis remains the
state. It is thus incapable of explaining the multilevelled and multiscalar processes
that take place today.
In this article it is argued that there is a clear need to incorporate several voices
that are, in turn, able to communicate with each other. Warkentin (2001, pp.
14–15) suggests placing people at the centre of things: ‘[p]eople are not only at
the centre of world politics, but they “make” politics’ (Warkentin, 2001, p. 15).
Accordingly, attention needs to be paid to morals and ethical values as the basis
of people’s decision-making and interaction with one another. Consequently, civil
society, which can be appreciated as an aspect of politics, is a dynamic phenom-
enon created and shaped by individuals through social interactions. People as
agents, as actors and doers, do not only have the ability to make things happen,
but people are also social beings, naturally oriented towards establishing and
maintaining social relations and conducting their lives within the context of rela-
tional networks (Warkentin, 2001, p. 17).
The politics of regional cooperation within European Union (EU) has placed
increased attention on the actual and potential roles attributed to civil society.
Civil society is understood as a political force central to the development of a
wider community of values and societal goals; it is seen to have a modernizing
and democratizing function within state–society relations (Scott & Liikanen,
2010, p. 424). It also provides a significant political forum for the articulation of
social, cultural, environmental agendas. As a forum, as a public space, it has
become increasingly transnational. Civil society organizations (CSOs) now oper-
ate not just within but also beyond the state. The number of organizations and
networks operating across the border, often through concrete projects, has been
increasing not only within the EU but also between the EU and neighbouring
states.
The EU cannot build its cross-border co-operation (CBC) agendas only on
‘high politics’; the building of ‘neighbourhood’ must also encompass social and
cultural issues. However, the previously unseen premium placed on the role of
transnational civil society cooperation raises the issue of the EU’s impact on civil
society agendas in the neighbouring countries and the EU’s ability to promote
CBC across its external borders. The EU’s normative power is not only exercised
through explicit policies but also through more subtle and informal channels
(Scott & Liikanen, 2010, p. 424).
The EU’s borderland between Finland and Russia provides a fascinating con-
text to study how the ‘Western’ and ‘Eastern’ understandings of state and civil
society meet, overlap and fuse. At this interface, Western explorations have often
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