Introduction - Environmental and Human Security in the Arctic - page 10

gender in Russia - the use and abuse of sex, and the ability for women to
combat violence in their own life situations or life worlds.
In order to examine both violence against women and democracy develop-
ment on the local level, Kirsti Stuvøy, based on the results of an empirical case
study of Northwest Russia (Archangelsk, Murmansk and Saint Petersburg
regions, 2004-2009), offers a detailed analysis of non-state crisis centres for
victims of domestic violence at both conceptual and empirical levels. The
chapter asks it a central question as to whether or not the gendered/domes-
tic violence in the Northwest of Russia is being securitized, and, if so, by
whom, why and how. The research results demonstrated the important shifts
occurred within the field of security for women in Russia during the last
decades, including the diversification of security providers, and expansion in
this domain of non-state actors. The crisis centres are considered to be one of
these new agents, an agent of change, which challenged the dominant state
position and power to define legitimate social problems and decisions relevant
to address women's security situations.
Maria Lvova examines the relationship between democratization processes
and the position of women in post-Soviet Russia, using the development of
attitudes towards sex (particularly through prostitution and trafficking) as
an illustration of how women's security has not been a core concern. Lvova
discusses the development of prostitution, and the concurrent surge in traffick-
ing, after the fall of the Soviet Union. She argues that women in Russia have
been subjected to contradictory expectations, particularly with the advent of a
more 'democratized' Russia, whereby on the one hand women were expected to
return to the home and tend to families (in opposition to the socialist demand
for women to be equal contributors to the public domain), but at the same
time were 'free' to make all manner of career choices. When women were not
welcome into the public domain (they should be at home), their choices have
often been reduced to jobs that commodified the body, not least through pros-
titution. Trafficking also became a severe problem when women looked to
overseas solutions for finding employment. Lvova argues that democratization
in Russia has relied more so on market economy ideals without including a
necessary focus upon the protection of individual/human rights.
The last chapter by Marina Goloviznina and Gunhild Hoogensen Gjørv
provides some concluding comments on human security in the Arctic.
The authors review the rationale behind using the concept in the Arctic
setting, and focus on issues of climate change and the impacts of extrac-
tive industries, and how the impacts of both can be understood using a
human security lens. The authors conclude by discussing how the use of
the human security concept in the Arctic is both a political choice as well
as an active decision, meaning that those who employ the concept do so
consciously, recognizing it as a move to power for individuals and com-
munities. The concept claims a voice for those who have usually been left
out of the security debate, as it was the arena for 'high politics' that did not