ABSTRACT
The Arctic is increasingly seen as the new frontier of a re-emerging Russia, "standing up from her knees," as the popular propagandist meme has it. This chapter seeks to answer the following questions by looking at the history of Russia's expansion in the Arctic and analyzing the changes in the country's policies in the region over the last decades. The questions are what are the origins, elements, and, most importantly, the limitations of Russia's new Arctic ambitions? what is its practical versus its symbolic significance? The chapter draws upon the constructivist paradigm in international relations, focusing on the significance of the Arctic for a national identity and the state's attempts to project its power in the international arena. It discusses the image of the Arctic in mass consciousness and among the political elites, using the methods of text and discourse analysis. The Arctic has become an essential part of Russia's identity, premised on the idea of large territory and of inexhaustible resources.
