This article discusses how Norwegian foreign policy toward the Arctic is closely linked to the often vague but central concept of national identity, and the crucial role Russia plays as a ‘significant other’ to Norway in the North. The author draws on an extensive empirical analysis of Norwegian foreign policy in the Arctic since 2005, and combines this with a discussion of discourse and national identity in light of elements from post-structuralist International Relations (IR) theory. The article contributes to a better understanding of how post-structuralist IR theory and the concept of national identity can be understood and operationalized when analyzing Arctic foreign policy, in particular, and International Relations generally.