Comparison of the Nordic Chairmanship Programmes and the Outputs of the Arctic Council in 2000–2013

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 158-186
Author(s):  
Paula Kovari
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Region ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
Effective Governance ◽  
Foreign Politics ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Take All ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change ◽  
The Arctic Region

The impacts of climate change as well as the increase of economic activities call for effective governance of the Arctic Region. The Arctic Council is the predominant intergovernmental forum in the region. The rotating chairmanships of the Member States have a defining role in the work of the Council. This paper compares the Arctic Council chairmanship programmes of the five Nordic Countries with the organisation’s outputs following the two-year chairmanship periods as expressed in the ministerial Declarations and the SAOs’ reports. The paper finds that the discourse on the studied topics has developed greatly over time and despite the similarities between the countries’ foreign politics in general, there are some notable differences in the way the countries see the future of the Arctic – for example through the region’s vast natural resources or as a unique environment of the Arctic biodiversity. The conclusion of this research is that even though the chair cannot take all the credit for its accomplishments during the chairmanship period in question, nor can it be blamed for all possible failures, the chair’s work does leave its mark on the Arctic Council’s performance.

Global Co-management and the Emergent Arctic: Opportunities for Engagement and Collaboration between Arctic States, Indigenous Permanent Participants, and Observers on the Arctic Council

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 251-267
Author(s):  
Barry S. Zellen
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
Indigenous Participation ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
New Institutions ◽  
Successful Collaboration ◽  
The Arctic Region

Successful collaboration between the indigenous peoples and the sovereign states of Arctic North America has helped to stabilise the Arctic region, fostering meaningful indigenous participation in the governance of their homeland, the introduction of new institutions of self-governance at the municipal, tribal and territorial levels, and successful diplomatic collaborations at the international level through the Arctic Council. This stability and the reciprocal and increasingly balanced relationship between sovereign states and indigenous stakeholders has yielded a widely recognised spirit of international collaboration often referred to as Arctic exceptionalism. With competition in the Arctic between states on the rise, the multitude of co-management systems and the multi-level, inter-governmental and inter-organisational relationships they have nurtured across the region will help to neutralise new threats to ‘Arctic Exceptionalism’ posed by intensifying inter-state tensions.

scholarly journals Exponential Growth and New Agendas – a Comprehensive Review of the Arctic Conference Sphere

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (0) ◽  
pp. 134
Author(s):  
Beate Steinveg
Keyword(s):  
Central Element ◽  
Policy Science ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Regime Complex ◽  
Governance Architecture ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change ◽  
The Arctic Region

The Arctic region has attracted the interest of Arctic and non-Arctic states, as well as non-state actors, for decades. Corresponding with the growing attraction towards the region, the number of conferences attending to Arctic issues has expanded. This article provides an historical mapping of the Arctic conference sphere, and demonstrates how the establishment of Arctic conferences has both paralleled central events in Arctic affairs and can be linked to important international developments. Firstly, there is a notable peak conforming with the “second state change” in 2005, brought about by developments opening the Arctic to global concerns: the impacts of climate change and the spread of the socio-economic effects from globalization to the Arctic. Secondly, the expanding number of conferences around 2013 can be seen in relation to the growing interest in the region from non-Arctic states. As such, this article builds the argument for conferences as a central element within the Arctic governance architecture, creating linkages among units in the regime complex. The article devotes particular attention towards the two largest international conferences on Arctic issues – Arctic Frontiers and Arctic Circle Assembly – to illustrate how the necessity for hybrid policy-science-business conferences arose from a more complex governance system, and challenges requiring cross-sectoral, interdisciplinary, and international collaboration.

scholarly journals The specificity of Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2021–2023

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Sofia Khusainova
Keyword(s):  
Russian Federation ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
National Interests ◽  
The North ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The Arctic Region

The subject of this research is the policy of the Russian Federation in the Arctic. The object is Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2021–2023. The author meticulously analyzes the positions of the state, taking into account national interests and peculiarities of the current international situation in the region. The article examines the domestic legislative acts adopted for regulation of the Arctic Region, as well as international documents aimed at sustainable development of the North. The conditions of collective security dictate moderate and clearly defined policy in the Arctic, which is the central arena for political action with the leading role of the Russian Federation until 2023. The conclusion is drawn that the Arctic Region is currently the most relevant vector of the policy of northern states. Chairmanship of the Russian Federation imposes enormous responsibility on the country, as despite the overall state of security in the region, there remains a range of unresolved issues. The attempts of institutionalization of the Arctic Council may become an implicit threat for the Russian Federation; this is why the systematization of domestic legislation and foreign policy actions on maintaining the health of ecosystem, cultural heritage, and environmental policy have become the priority vectors in the first year of Russia’s chairmanship. The overall responsibility of the leading actor the Arctic does not exclude the existence of classic threats to the security of state’s sovereignty, which requires accurate planning in subsequent years of the chairmanship.

Vocabularies for human development: Arctic politics and the power of knowledge

Polar Record ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi Sinevaara-Niskanen
Keyword(s):  
Human Development ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
The Status ◽  
Common Notion ◽  
The Common ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Is Value ◽  
The Arctic Region

ABSTRACTThe Arctic Council (AC) has been accorded the status of knowledge holder and knowledge provider for the Arctic region. This paper probes the broader definition-making power of Arctic knowledge, challenging the common notion that this knowledge is value neutral. It argues that attention should be paid to the ways in which power is exercised in, and though, the various reports and assessments published under the auspices of the AC. The specific focus of the paper is human development and gender as an aspect of that development. The research analyses the Arctic Human Development Report (AHDR) in order to examine the ways in which knowledge defines human development and its agents in the Arctic. The paper draws on Foucault-inspired and feminist approaches to analyse three vocabularies of rule in particular: strength of the community, vulnerability and the need for adaptation. These vocabularies are coexistent and share an emphasis on communities. Yet, questions of gender seldom figure in them, a lack of salience that reveals the power of the partiality of knowledge. The politics of knowledge operate by placing in the foreground only certain accounts of Arctic development.

Arctic Oiled Wildlife Response: Exploring Potential and Limitations

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 (1) ◽  
pp. 1569-1582
Author(s):  
Hugo Nijkamp ◽  
Saskia Sessions ◽  
Philippe Blanc ◽  
Yannick Autret
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Migratory Species ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
Response Planning ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
The Arctic Region

ABSTRACT The Arctic is an extremely vulnerable area for oil pollution. Because of global warming and the resulting retreating ice, new economic shipping and Exploration & Production activities are likely to develop in the coming years and decades. Both governments (e.g. Arctic Council) and the oil industry (e.g. Arctic Response Technology Joint Industry Programme) are preparing for increased oil spill response capabilities in the Arctic region, and are looking to join forces for more efficiency and effectiveness. In connection to oil spill response planning in the Arctic both onshore and offshore, attention should be given to oiled wildlife response preparedness in this region. The Arctic is characterized by unique ecosystems and biodiversity, either marine or terrestrial, with a large proportion of migratory species. So although species diversity is assumed to be low compared to other regions, Arctic wildlife is very sensitive to the effects of oil pollution. Additionally the Arctic is a remote and extreme area for setting up a wildlife response in the framework of an oil spill response. This paper explores what the limitations of an Arctic oiled wildlife response would be (physical/logistical, health & safety, environmental monitoring, ecosystems understanding, biodiversity data, sensitivity mapping, etc.), and identifies how current gaps in response preparedness could be filled. Special emphasis is laid on investments into the capabilities of specialised responders and their equipment, including creation of a specialised Arctic Wildlife Response Strike Team.

The Arctic Search and Rescue Agreement: Text, Framing and Logics

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 299-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corine Wood-Donnelly
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
Search And Rescue ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
Policy Document ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Hard Law ◽  
Maritime Search And Rescue ◽  
The Arctic Region

Abstract The 2011 ‘Agreement on Cooperation on Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue in the Arctic’ (henceforth SAR Agreement) is the first instrument of hard law produced by the eight states of the Arctic Council. While the agreement ostensibly addresses search and rescue related issues for the Arctic region, it is capable of being understood in a variety of legal, political and cultural contexts. Three elements are teased out in particular – the SAR Agreement as a legal policy document, as indicative of evolving Arctic international relations, and as indicative of particular geopolitical logics. As the paper concludes, however, the SAR Agreement has not been entirely free of political intrigue.

scholarly journals Aquatorialities of the Arctic Region – A Systems Theoretical Analysis of Risks

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gorm Harste
Keyword(s):  
Communication Systems ◽  
Political System ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
Legal Code ◽  
Communications Systems ◽  
Ecological Communication ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Arctic Region

In order to describe the Arctic system I propose using a concept functionally equivalent to territoriality, namely aquatoriality. Whether communicating about territoriality or aquatoriality, concepts and delimitations are both contingent to forms of communication systems. I will distinguish between six communications systems that differentiated from each other could become involved in the new deals emerging around the Arctic. Apart of an economic communication code about the Arctic, a legal code, ecological communication codes, and tourist communication codes, I will cope with the military coding of the Arctic. These codes could then appear structurally coupled to a political system that in an organizational way appears in the Arctic Council.

Жапониянын уюлдар саясаты

2019 ◽  
pp. 94-103
Author(s):  
Ишчи Арманбек
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
North Pole ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
The North ◽  
North And South ◽  
The Arctic Region

Аннотация. Акыркы жылдардын ичинде Түндүк жана Түштүк уюлдардын мааниси эл аралык аренада жогорулашында күмөн жок. Жапония да Түндүк Уюлдун тарабына көңүлүн буруп, натыйжада бул региондо өлкөнүн кызыкчылыктарына ылайык келген улуттук саясат иштелип чыкканы таң калтырбайт. Арктика кеңешинин мамлекеттери менен кызматташууну өнүктүрүп, 2013-жылдан тартып Жапония Арктика аймагында негизги акторлордун бири болуп саналат. Макалада Жапониянын Түндүк уюлга карата саясаты каралат, бул аймактын табигый байлыктарын, өзгөчө энергия ресурстарын колдонуу боюнча эл аралык документтер көрсөтүлөт. Түйүндүү сөздөр: Жапония, Түндүк уюл, Арктика кеңеши, улуттук саясат, энергия ресурстары, мөңгүлөр. Аннотация. Нет никакого сомнения в том, что за последние годы возросла значимость Северного и Южного полюсов на международной арене. Неудивительно, что и Япония обратила свой взор в сторону Северного Полюса, в результате чего была выработана национальная политика, которая соответствует интересам страны в данном регионе. Развивая сотрудничество с государствами Ар- ктического совета, Япония с 2013 года считается одним из основных актёров в арктическом регионе. В статье рассматривается политика Японии в отношении Северного полюса, приводятся международные документы относительно пользования природными богатствами данного региона, в особенности энергоресурсами. Ключевые слова: Япония, Северный полюс, Арктический совет, национальная политика, энергоресурсы, ледники. Abstract. There is no doubt that in recent years the importance of the North and South Poles has increased in the international arena. It is not surprising that Japan turned its eyes towards the North Pole, as a result of which a national policy was devel- oped which corresponds to the interests of the country in the region. Developing coop- eration with the states of the Arctic Council, Japan since 2013 is considered one of the main actors in the Arctic region. The article discusses the policy of Japan in relation to the North Pole, provides international documents on the use of the natural resources of the region, especially energy. Keywords: Japan, the North Pole, the Arctic Council, national policy, energy, gla- ciers

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