scholarly journals The Polar Silk Road and China's role in Arctic governance

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 121
Author(s):  
Heljar Havnes
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
International Order ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Silk Road ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Commercial Development ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The Status ◽  
Recent Developments

The People's Republic of China (PRC) wants to become a key regional actor in the Arctic. PRC's underlying priority in the region is gaining access to commercial opportunities from trade and natural resources. To this end, PRC is building its domestic capacities for research and commercial development in the Arctic, increasing its involvement in multilateral forums on Arctic governance and deepening ties to Arctic nations, especially Russia.Attitudes towards PRC among Arctic nations are diverging, but Beijing generally faces high levels of skepticism and opposition to its Arctic involvement, explicitly grounded in perceptions of PRC as a state undermining the rules-based international order and potential military build-up in the high north.The analytical framework in this article builds on an outline authored by Exner-Pirot in 2012 (Exner-Pirot, 2012) to detail the current schools of thought within Arctic governance, and builds on it by including more recent developments in Arctic governance, incorporating the updated Arctic policies of most Arctic countries and connecting it to PRC.This article contends that Beijing wants to change the status quo of Arctic governance and shift it towards a more accommodating approach to non-Arctic states. This article finds, based on the stated Arctic strategies of the eight Arctic states and PRC, that there are different views on Arctic governance where Arctic countries for the most part indicate an openness to a Chinese entry into the Arctic, albeit in diverging ways. This creates a complex governance scenario for PRC to navigate as it seeks to become a key Arctic player

Against Permanent Sovereignty

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The Status ◽  
Made In

The status quo within international politics is that individual nation-states enjoy extensive and for the most part exclusive rights over the resources falling within their borders. Egalitarians have often assumed that such a situation cannot be defended, but perhaps some sophisticated defences of state or national rights over natural resources which have been made in recent years prove otherwise. This chapter critically assesses these various arguments, and shows that they are not sufficient to justify the institution of ‘permanent sovereignty’ over resources. Even insofar as those arguments have some weight, they are compatible with a significant dispersal of resource rights away from individual nation-states, both downwards towards local communities, and upwards towards transnational and global agencies.

scholarly journals Revising order or challenging the balance of military power? An alternative typology of revisionist and status-quo states

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (04) ◽  
pp. 689-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Cooley ◽  
Daniel Nexon ◽  
Steven Ward
Keyword(s):  
International System ◽  
International Order ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Military Power ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
Important Variation ◽  
Dimensional Property ◽  
The Status ◽  
Property Space ◽  
Distribution Of Power

AbstractUnimensional accounts of revisionism – those that align states along a single continuum from supporting the status quo to seeking a complete overhaul of the international system – miss important variation between a desire to alter the balance of military power and a desire to alter other elements of international order. We propose a two-dimensional property space that generates four ideal types: status-quo actors, who are satisfied with both order and the distribution of power; reformist actors, who are fine with the current distribution of power but seek to change elements of order; positionalist actors, who see no reason to alter the international order but do aim to shift the distribution of power; and revolutionary actors, who want to overturn both international order and the distribution of capabilities. This framework helps make sense of a number of important debates about hegemony and international order, such as the possibility of revisionist hegemonic powers, controversies over the concept of ‘soft balancing’, and broader dynamics of international goods substitution during power transitions.

The transnational policy process for REDD+ and domestic policy entrepreneurship in developing countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (8) ◽  
pp. 1418-1436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sébastien Jodoin
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Policy Reform ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Domestic Policy ◽  
Governance Arrangement ◽  
Policy Entrepreneurship ◽  
The Status ◽  
Domestic Level

This article aims to understand the complex relationship between transnational pathways of policy influence and strategies of domestic policy entrepreneurship in the pursuit of REDD+ in developing countries. Since 2007, a complex governance arrangement exerting influence through the provision of international rules, norms, markets, knowledge, and material assistance has supported the diffusion of REDD+ policies around the world. These transnational pathways of influence have played an important role in the launch of REDD+ policy-making processes at the domestic level. Indeed, over 60 developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America have initiated multi-year programmes of policy reform, research, and capacity-building that aim to lay the groundwork for the implementation of REDD+. However, there is emerging evidence that the nature of policy change associated with these REDD+ policy efforts ultimately depends on the mediating influence of domestic factors. This article offers an analytical framework that focuses on whether and how domestic policy actors can seize the opportunities provided by transnational policy pathways for REDD+ to challenge or reinforce the status quo in the governance of forests and related sectors.

Human Rights and the Arctic

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 233-243
Author(s):  
Gudmundur Alfredsson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Independent State ◽  
The Status ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Right

Abstract This article surveys some of the many international human rights law issues that come up in connection with the Arctic, such as the rights of indigenous peoples and the formulation of these rights in a draft Nordic Sami Convention. The focus, however, is on recent developments concerning the status of Greenland as a result of an agreement concluded in 2008 between the Danish and Greenlandic authorities. This agreement foresees not only a significant increase in self-government but also opens the door for the Greenlandic people to create an independent State through the exercise of the right to external self-determination as a matter of political decolonisation of an overseas colonial territory.

scholarly journals Is Russia an Arctic Status Quo Power?

Politik ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Larsen Nonboe
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Law ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
North Pole ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Russian Foreign Policy ◽  
The North ◽  
The Status

Russian foreign policy in the increasingly important Arctic region reflects an ambiguous combination of assertiveness and cooperation in accordance with international law. Against this background, the existing literature on the Arctic tends to polarise around revisionist and status quo interpretations of Russian foreign policy in the region. The present paper contrasts the divergent interpretations through case studies of the Russian flag planting on the North Pole seabed in 2007 and Russia’s participation at the Ilulissat Summit in 2008 which can be seen as ‘crucial’ cases for the competing interpretations. Overall, the case studies provide support for a modidied version of the status quo interpretation which incorporates insights from the revisionist interpretation. 

scholarly journals RIAC: Responsible and Informed Arctic Commercialization, A Way Forward

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna M. Zolyniak
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Commercial Development ◽  
Policy Proposal ◽  
The Status ◽  
Regulatory Capacity ◽  
Future Potential ◽  
Arctic Policy

In 2019, the Arctic experienced its second warmest year on record, continuing a six-year trend of record-breaking Arctic surface temperatures (Lindsey 2019). Such unprecedented observations have become the new normal in the Arctic and provide new insights into the implications of global climate change. A warming Arctic, however, also presents new opportunities for Arctic commercial development. Such development is in fact quickly evolving from a mere possibility to an on-the-ground reality. Despite the speed of and increasing prospect of Arctic commercialization, however, there has been little to no movement on the part of the United States to enact policies and regulations accounting for it. Recognizing this gap in U.S. policy, the main objective of this paper is to articulate a possible path towards sustainable Arctic commercialization—one that recognizes and addresses current realities and future potential challenges. To this end, this paper synthesizes a two-pronged policy proposal—referred to as Responsible and Informed Arctic Commercialization (RIAC). RIAC targets the paucity of U.S. Arctic knowledge and regulatory capacity with a clearly articulated framework for implementation. The first prong of the policy addresses the quality of U.S. Arctic domain awareness. The second prong assesses the status of relevant sections of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations with respect to the unique conditions of the Arctic. The actions encompassed by RIAC’s two-pronged structure offer a clear path for the United States to rectify the weaknesses in its current Arctic policy and make sustainable and safe Arctic commercial development possible.

scholarly journals Alternative governance arrangements for modular water infrastructure: An exploratory review

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 53-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrin Pakizer ◽  
Eva Lieberherr
Keyword(s):  
Water Governance ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Modular Systems ◽  
The Status ◽  
Formal Policy ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Governance Arrangements

This article presents an exploratory review of alternative governance arrangements for modular systems in the urban water sector in terms of policy instruments, organizational structure, and underlying mechanisms. We develop an analytical framework to review the literature on alternative arrangements for innovative technologies. The preliminary results highlight the importance of governmental involvement and formal policy instruments to ensure public and environmental health in the context of modular water infrastructures. This is in line with the status quo of conventional water governance arrangements. However, the findings also suggest that informal instruments supplement the formal ones and that instead of political-administrative accountability more horizontal mechanisms, such as answerability toward citizens and consumers, play an important role in the context of new water technologies.

Justice and Natural Resources

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Systematic Account ◽  
Sovereign Wealth Funds ◽  
Shared Management ◽  
The Status ◽  
Resource Wealth ◽  
Oil Water ◽  
Equal Sharing

Our world is increasingly marked by climate change, environmental degradation, and conflict over precious resources such as oil, water, and land. In each case, access to valuable resources is at stake. We require a normative account of how to share the benefits and burdens natural resources provide. But to date we have no comprehensive account of the demands of justice when it comes to natural resources. This book fills that gap. It provides a systematic account of how to think about natural resources, and the conflicting claims people have over them. It also sets out the concrete implications of that account. It criticizes the status quo in world politics, according to which resources themselves, and decisions about how to use them, are the preserve of individual states. Instead it shows that justice requires a more equal sharing of the benefits and burdens that flow from the world’s resources, and shared management of many of the world’s resources. Along the way it addresses important real-world questions such as: how should access to the resources of the oceans be shared? How good are national claims to the enormous resource wealth found in Sovereign Wealth Funds? Should we stop buying natural resources from dictators? And who should pay for conservation of valuable resources such as the world’s rainforests?

An emerging “Islandian” sovereignty of non-self-governing islands

2017 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard Prinsen ◽  
Séverine Blaise
Keyword(s):  
New Caledonia ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Comparative Analyses ◽  
Development Indicators ◽  
Political Independence ◽  
The Status ◽  
New Form ◽  
Global Research

Comparative analyses have found that non-self-governing islands tend to have much better development indicators than sovereign islands. Perhaps unsurprisingly, since 1983 no non-self-governing island has acquired political independence. This paper argues that rather than merely maintaining the status quo with their colonial metropoles, non-self-governing islands are actively creating a new form of sovereignty. This creation of an “Islandian” sovereignty takes place against the backdrop of debates on the relevance of classic Westphalian sovereignty and emerging practices of Indigenous sovereignty. This paper reviews global research on the sovereignty of islands and from this review, develops an analytical framework of five mechanisms that drive the emerging Islandian sovereignty. This framework is tested and illustrated with a case study of the negotiations about sovereignty between New Caledonia and its colonial metropole, France.

scholarly journals The Status Quo and Improvement Measures of Catering Industry in Chengdu

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Shuyi Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Status Quo ◽  
Restaurant Industry ◽  
Commercial Development ◽  
Market Order ◽  
Catering Industry ◽  
The People ◽  
The Status ◽  
Improvement Measures ◽  
High Level ◽  
Good Environment

<em>In recent years, with the continuous improvement of people’s material life, the restaurant industry has increasingly become an indispensable part of people’s lives and an important symbol of people’s enrichment and improvement of life. No matter in a friend’s dinner or a colleague’s gathering, food has become a very significant part. It not only brings people enjoyment of various flavors, but also can narrow the distance between people. Located in the southwest plains, Chengdu, with the reputation of “Land of Abundance”, is an excellent place for the development of catering industry. It is not only because of the high level of commercial development in Chengdu but also the people living there enjoy their lives and are keen on food. However, there are also some undesirable problems arising with the prosperity of the catering industry in Chengdu, which will disrupt market order and good environment. Based on this, this paper mainly elaborates the current development of the catering industry in Chengdu, and correspondingly puts forward some perfecting measures for specific problems.</em>

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