ABSTRACT
The UN Sustainable Development Goals have been criticized for ignoring the role played by culture or at least for defining culture too narrowly and instrumentally. What then is the impact of culture and how can it be measured? Focusing on Norwegian-Russian cultural cooperation, this chapter offers some answers to this pertinent question. This chapter is based on a study of two cases of cultural cooperation between the two countries: a cultural institution in the border area and a large-scale cultural event. By distinguishing between border-affirmative cultural cooperation implemented by the authorities (from above) and border-transgressive cultural cooperation emerging from the population in the borderland (from below), the authors demonstrate how the latter interacts with and influences the former. The findings presented suggest that cultural initiatives from below have played a more prominent role than commonly perceived. This helps explain how and why cultural cooperation has been so important and why it will remain a decisive factor in the future development of the countries’ relationship. Finally, this chapter presents three possible future scenarios for Norwegian-Russian cultural cooperation.
