This title was first published in 2000: The book analyses the development of arctic environmental cooperation since the late 1980s until the establishment of the Arctic Council in 1996. The study is based on the discourse analysis of statement, documents and interviews by the different actors in the cooperation. In this book, the problem of the environment is seen as a problem of order: it is a problem of ordering relations among related actors, of ordering priorities of action and of ordering relations between different institutional arrangements locally, regionally and internally. Three discourses were found in the cooperation: discourses of sovereignty, knowledge and development. In the discourse of sovereignty, the development of relations between state and indigenous peoples in terms of international environmental cooperation is central. In the discourse of knowledge, the different forms of knowledge and the role of different producers of knowledge in cooperation has been discussed. The discourse of development focuses on the idea of sustainable development and its applications in defining the future of the Circumpolar North and the activities of the Arctic Council. The arctic cooperation can be understood as a regional effort to make an order of sustainability into practice.

The basic objective of this report is to place the debate about the future of the Northern Sea Route into the larger picture of Arctic politics and the emerging agenda of the Arctic as a developing region in international society. National security and international environmental cooperation, are the objects of study employed, both separately and in various conceptual combinations, to realize this purpose. To help me in this, I was privileged to draw on the profound expertise of my highly esteemed co-authors, Professor Franklyn Griffiths at the University of Toronto and Senior Researchers at IMEMO in Moscow: Raphael Vartanov, Alexei Roginko and Alexander Kolossov. To their cooperative spirit, friendship and solid contributions to this report, ( am deeply indebted. The report is the result of multiple contributions, both in terms of substance and funding, extending far beyond the inputs of the team of authors. The professional input and thorough work 'behind the scene' done by Liv Astrid Sverdrup, Researcher at FNI at an early stage of the project, has been invaluable. Senior Consultant Kjell Moe at the Norwegian Polar Institute also provided valuable comments and improvements to the biological parts of the Introductory chapter, whilst Senior Consultant Ann Skarstad at FNI, worked wonders with the language for those of us not having English as our mother tongue. Claes Lykke Ragner, Deputy head of the (NSROP secretariat, and Dr.

This volume explores the governance of the transforming Arctic from an international perspective. Leading and emerging scholars in Arctic research investigate the international causes and consequences of contemporary Arctic developments, and assess how both state and non-state actors respond to crucial problems for the global community. Long treated as a remote and isolated region, climate change and economic prospects have put the Arctic at the forefront of political agendas from the local to the global level, and this book tackles the variety of involved actors, institutional politics, relevant policy issues, as well as political imaginaries related to a globalizing Arctic. It covers new institutional forms of various stakeholder engagement on multiple levels, governance strategies to combat climate change that affect the Arctic region sooner and more strongly than other regions, the pros and cons of Arctic resource development for the region and beyond, and local and trans-boundary pollution concerns. Given the growing relevance of the Arctic to international environmental, energy and security politics, the volume helps to explain how the region is governed in times of global nexuses, multi-level politics and multi-stakeholderism.

Over the last few years the Arctic has become a region of growing interest to the international community. Major environmental, economic, social, and security issues are all in evidence within its borders today. Many feel that there is an urgent need to establish an effective governance structure for the area. The Arctic Council has offered a basic forum for circumpolar consultation and cooperation over the past two decades. However, it has not been an easy undertaking and the organization has had to wrestle with a series of internal and external impediments that have hindered its forward progress. This volume explores the efforts of Sweden, a recent Chair of the Arctic Council, to build an enhanced framework for consensus-building and governance within the circumpolar region. It examines its efforts to provide focused leadership for the Arctic Council and to advance the environmental protection and sustainable development missions of the organization. It considers the various means by which Sweden utilized its position as chair of the Arctic Council to promote its program for action in both these areas. It also explores how this leadership position enabled it to foster necessary organizational reform within the body. The book gives new insight into how both the formal and informal 'powers of the chair' can be utilized to facilitate institutional growth and change. It also provides new and useful understanding of how a small country like Sweden can harness key elements of 'soft power' to advance its foreign policy objectives in the Arctic. The author closely followed the undertakings of the Swedish Chairmanship team over its two years at the helm of this emerging Arctic international organization. He witnessed its several successes and a few of its disappointments. The volume offers a behind the scene view of the challenges and opportunities faced by contemporary diplomats as they pursue their efforts at international organization.