Table Of ContentFrontiers in International Relations
Beate Steinveg
Arctic
Governance
Through
Conferencing
Actors, Agendas and Arenas
Frontiers in International Relations
SeriesEditors
BenjaminTallis,InstituteofInternationalRelations,Prague,CzechRepublic
MarenHofius,UniversityofHamburg,Hamburg,Germany
ElkeSchwarz,QueenMaryUniversityofLondon,London,UK
KristinHaugevik,NorwegianInstituteofInternationalAffairs,Oslo,Norway
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Beate Steinveg
Arctic Governance Through
Conferencing
Actors, Agendas and Arenas
BeateSteinveg
FacultyofSocialSciences
NordUniversity
Bodø,Norway
ISSN2662-9429 ISSN2662-9437 (electronic)
FrontiersinInternationalRelations
ISBN978-3-031-23331-9 ISBN978-3-031-23332-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23332-6
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Acknowledgments
Thisbookwouldnotexistwithoutthehelpandcontributionsofothers.
Iammostgratefultoalltheintervieweeswhocontributedtothestudywiththeir
time,insight,andperspectivesonconferencesintheArctic.Iamalsothankfultoall
thosewhohavetakentimetodiscussmyresearchatconferences,andtothosewho
haveprovidedcomments andfeedbacksatseminars and workshops.Particularly, I
amobligedtothedevotedgroupofArcticsocialsciencescholarswhohaveincluded
meinthisacademiccommunityasayoungresearcher.Thishasbeenmostinspiring
andencouraging.
TheopponentsatmyPhDdefense,ProfessorElanaWilsonRoweandProfessor
KlausDodds,deservemuchthanks.Bothformakingmestretchtheboundariesand
explore new frontiers of my research and for encouraging me to view the Arctic
conferencespherealsointhebroadercontextofinternationalrelations.Theirinput
hasbeeninvaluableforthisbook.ProfessorDoddsalsocontributedtomythinking
aroundconferencesrelatedtothe“idealmodel”appliedinthisbook.
Iwouldalsoliketothanktheanonymousreviewerofthebookmanuscript,forthe
veryconstructivecommentsandsuggestionsforimprovement,andtheeditorsofthe
book,fortheirpatienceandexcellentadvice.
IoweadeepdebtofgratitudetoformercolleaguesatUiT—TheArcticUniver-
sity of Norway, who always offered their advice. Especially my PhD supervisors,
ProfessorKnutMikalsenandProfessorHans-KristianHernes.
I was so fortunate as to receive a grant from the Faculty of Humanities, Social
Sciences and Education at UiT—The Arctic University of Norway in the fall of
2021.Writingthisbookwouldnothavebeenpossiblewithoutthisfinancialsupport.
v
Contents
1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 ATheoreticalFrameworkforGlobalConferencing. . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 StudyingArcticGovernance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3 OutlineoftheBook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2 AnalyticalFrameworkandCases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.1 ATheoreticalFrameworkforGlobalConferencing. . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.1.1 TheNeorealistPerspectiveonInternationalRelations
andActorsintheArcticConferenceSphere. . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.1.2 TheMultipleStreamsFrameworkandAgenda-Setting
atConferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.1.3 RegimeTheoryandtheArcticGovernanceArchitecture. . . 20
2.2 CentralDevelopmentsintheArcticConferenceSphere. . . . . . . . . 24
2.3 TheIdealModelofaConference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.4 ArcticFrontiers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.4.1 TheStructureandOrganizationoftheArcticFrontiers. . .. 29
2.4.2 ParticipantsandPartnersoftheArcticFrontiers. . . . . . . . . 31
2.4.3 TheArcticFrontiers’InternationalOutreach:Seminars
Abroad. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.4.4 TheValueoftheArcticFrontiersforNorway. . . . . . . . . . 33
2.4.5 StrengthsandWeaknessesoftheArcticFrontiers. . . . . .. 35
2.5 ArcticCircleAssembly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.5.1 StructureandOrganizationoftheArcticCircle
Assembly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.5.2 ParticipantsandPartnersoftheArcticCircle. . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.5.3 TheArcticCircle’sInternationalOutreach:ArcticCircle
Forums. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.5.4 TheValueoftheArcticCircleAssemblyforIceland. . . . . 43
vii
viii Contents
2.5.5 StrengthsandWeaknessesoftheArcticCircleAssembly. . 45
2.6 TwoDifferentModelsforConferenceOrganizing?. . . . . . . . . . . . 48
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3 ArcticGovernance:Actors,Processes,andStructures. . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.1 ArcticStatesandTheirInterestsintheRegion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.2 EmergingNon-ArcticStakeholders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.3 Non-governmentalOrganizationsinArcticGovernance. . . .. . . .. 66
3.4 TheHistoryandStructureoftheArcticCouncil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.5 ArcticGovernanceArrangements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.5.1 TheArcticFiveandtheLawoftheSea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.5.2 BarentsCooperation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.5.3 NordicCooperation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.5.4 TheArcticEconomicCouncil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.5.5 TheArcticScienceMinisterial. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.6 ConcludingRemarks. .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . .. . . .. 74
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4 Actors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.1 TheFunctionsofConferencesforArcticStateRepresentatives. . . 80
4.2 TheFunctionsofConferencesforNon-ArcticState
Representatives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.3 TheEpistemicCommunityintheArcticConferenceSphere. . . . . 91
4.4 BusinessRepresentativesatArcticConferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.5 TheFunctionsofConferencesforInstitutionsand
Non-governmentalOrganizations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.6 IndigenousPeoplesatArcticConferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.7 LocalandRegionalRepresentativesatArcticConferences. . . . . . 100
4.8 ConferencesasToolsofStatecraft,InnovativeInstruments,
andArenasforExpandingtheArcticCommunity. . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5 Agenda-Setting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.1 TheArcticFrontiers:KeepingtheArcticOceanontheAgenda. . . 108
5.2 TheArcticCircleAssembly:Agenda-SettingThrough
theMissionCouncils. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
5.3 TheProblemStream:GlobalizingArcticIssues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.4 ThePolicyStream:DevelopingandSellingIdeasatArctic
Conferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5.5 ThePoliticalStream:ConferencesasArenasforCoalition
Building. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. 119
5.6 ConferencesasAgenda-SettingArenas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
References..... ...... ..... ...... ..... ..... ...... ..... .. 123
Contents ix
6 TheArcticGovernanceArchitecture. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
6.1 Geopolitics:ConferencesinaChangingWorldOrder. . . . . . . . . . 126
6.2 ConferencesasSupplementstotheArcticCouncil. . . . . . . . . . . . 133
6.2.1 ExpandingtheArcticAgenda. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
6.2.2 BroadeningStakeholderInvolvementinArcticAffairs. . . . 136
6.3 TheArcticGovernanceRegimeComplex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
6.4 ConferencesWithintheArcticGovernanceArchitecture. . . . . . . . 145
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
7 GovernancebyConference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
7.1 TwoDifferentModelsforConferenceOrganizing. . . . . . . . . . .. . 152
7.2 TheFunctionsofConferencesforActorsinArcticGovernance. . . 154
7.3 TheAgenda-SettingFunctionofConferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
7.4 ConferencesWithintheArcticGovernanceArchitecture. . . . . . . . 160
7.5 ConcludingRemarksandAreasforFurtherResearch. . . . . . . . . . 162
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Index. ... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ... 167
Abbreviations
AC ArcticCouncil
ACA ArcticCircleAssembly
ACGF ArcticCoastGuardForum
ACIA ArcticClimateImpactAssessment
AEC ArcticEconomicCouncil
AEPS ArcticEnvironmentProtectionStrategy
AF ArcticFrontiers
AIP ArcticInvestmentProtocol
AMAP ArcticMonitoringandAssessmentProgramme
ASSW ArcticScienceSummitWeek
ASM ArcticScienceMinisterial
BEAC BarentsEuro-ArcticCouncil
BRC BarentsRegionalCouncil
CAFF ConservationofArcticFloraandFauna
DoD DepartmentofDefense
EEZ ExclusiveEconomicZone
EPPR EmergencyPrevention,PreparednessandResponse
EU EuropeanUnion
IAF InternationalArcticForum
IASC InternationalArcticScienceCommittee
IASSA InternationalArcticSocialScienceAssociation
ICASS InternationalCongressofArcticSocialSciences
IMO InternationalMaritimeOrganization
IPCC IntergovernmentalPanelonClimateChange
MoU MemorandumofUnderstanding
MSF MultipleStreamsFramework
NATO NorthAtlanticTreatyOrganization
NF NorthernForum
NGO Non-GovernmentalOrganization
NRF NorthernResearchForum
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