Human Security, Oil and People

Abstract

Human security acknowledges people and communities as well as states in identifying threats to security. Prospects of increasing oil exploration in Arctic areas are connected with heightened tensions between the security of people and the security of state (and private) income through oil production. Whose security is at stake? Aiming to advance the multidimensional picture of security through empirical analysis, this article examines survey material collected in two villages located in the Komi Republic in northern European Russia that have both been heavily exposed to oil pollution. We find that oil spills are considered habitual and linked to various degradations of personal health. There is a tendency shown in the empirical material that women are more concerned than men, indicating that gendered power relations define the possibilities to act on local insecurities. The article contributes to the security debate by explaining and discussing the format of the survey and its results in connection with security theory.