Summary:

The title of the study “The coastguard cooperation Norway-Russia - continuing politics by other means?” gives an indication of the main focus, which is to investigate in what way and to what extent geopolitics have influenced this bilateral cooperation between the Norwegian Coastguard and the Russian Border guard. The issue has its roots back to 1988, and has developed from a simple interaction in rescue service to a complex and mutual beneficial cooperation including rescue service, oil protection and most of all control of the fisheries in the rich and vulnerable Barents Sea. The cooperation has not developed without friction, and the study has aimed to use the perspectives of political science, organizational and cultural theories to explain and understand its development. The study is based on empirical information collected through studies of archives and available literature and even more important through interviews with key personnel who from their own unique positions either have observed or participated in the cooperation. The findings are in short that geopolitics to just a minor extent has influenced the cooperation, that organizational and cultural perspectives had some role, but all in all the common needs to protect the resources have been the leading star.