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interaction between organizations in the periphery and other parts of the world. With respect to the
networking of Barents region organizations on the regional and international levels, it is a matter of
increasing the economic prosperity of those living in the area (Koivumaa & Koivumaa, 2005: 14–
18.)
Like other post-Cold war security threats, the threat of climate change has transformed the role of
the state and the context of political confrontation all over the world. After all, from the point of
view of political action, it is important to adapt to the ongoing transition in the international system.
Climate change is part of this transition. Anthony Giddens wrote that ―[i]t won´t be possible to
mobilize effectively against global warming simply on the basis of the avoidance of future dangers –
that is a wholly negative way. We need some more positive goals to aim for‖ (Giddens, 2009: 71).
From the perspective of the view of the deconstruction, even the threat of climate change could be
an opportunity for the European North. Maybe the most widely discussed issue from that point of
view is the suggestion that the Arctic could be ice-free in the quite near future, even as early as 2030.
After that, for example commercial trans-Arctic voyages would be a viable option and ―it would be
possible to go from Northern Europe to East Asia or north-west coast of the US avoiding the Suez
and Panama Canals‖ (Giddents, 2009: 20). Even though climate change is the most challenging
threat for mankind in the future, we should understand that it will have different kinds of
consequences in the different parts of the world.
Conclusion
My thesis is that the political acts described in this article, and constituted (made possible) by the
post-Cold War transition of the international system, deconstruct the peripheral thinking borne in
the modern state-centric international system. The modern international system has inhibited the
historical East-West ties between the actors of the European North. The role of the northern areas
in the modern international system has been to transfer the outputs of production (natural resources
and workers) to the central areas of the state. The most attractive identity narratives have been
narratives of state cultures or – during the Cold War – grand stories about the hostility between the
West and the East or the capitalist and the worker/labour.
In the post-Cold war transition it is not too difficult to deconstruct the peripheral thinking
concerning the European North. The attractiveness of local identity narratives has increased during
the ―global globalization‖ years after the Cold War. In the European North the post-Cold War
transition of the international systems has opened up more possibilities for the east-west relations,
local identity narratives, selling the ―end products‖ to the local economy (tourism) and to connect –
with the help of new technologies – the inhabitants in frontiers and border regions as a more fixed
part of the global consciousness. In addition, climate change – even though it is a fundamental
problem for the global community – will provide further content for the work of deconstruction of
the peripheral thinking in the European North. The discussion about the possibilities that ice
melting in the Arctic is producing for the northern sea routes is a good indicator for that (see e.g.
Giddens, 2009: 20). It is also possible to construct the scenario that global system change – including
climate change – will increase the global tourist flows and direct them also to the northern frontier