Inuit Governance and Contemporary Challenges: New Questions for Arctic Governance

• Published in: The Yearbook of Polar Law Online
• Main Author: Pelaudeix, Cécile
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Brill 2012
• Subjects: Arctic; Greenland; inuit; Yearbook of Polar Law
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/22116427-91000089; https://brill.com/view/journals/yplo/4/1/article-p155_10.xml; https://data.brill.com/files/journals/22116427_004_01_S10_text.pdf

Abstract This article explores the concept of governance, primarily in terms of policy rather than law, and examines current Inuit governance in light of recent economic and political changes in the Arctic region at the national and international level, with criteria of procedure (effficiency) and substance (equity). It points out that striking diffferences exist between Inuit regions in terms of governance and political institutions. Regarding procedure, it is shown that the main impediments are the fragmentation of administrative institutions and the implementations of provisions of agreements. In terms of equity, in some cases the right to self-determination is not guaranteed or efffective, and the ownership of land, sub-surface rights, except in Greenland is not operative. On the international stage, the equity criteria is not met. Completed with an approach in terms of politics, according to which the weigh of actors, such as Inuit actors, included in the process of governance, should be related to their political representativeness, the approach in terms of governance shows that Inuit governance has reached a stage that requires new balances of power between regional, national and international institutions, therefore a renewed reflection on centre and periphery to re-imagine the place the South could have in the North.