Arctic Networks and Legal Interpretations of the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf

• Published in: Leiden Journal of International Law
• Main Authors: GRABEN, SARI, HARRISON, PETER
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2015
• Subjects: Law; Political Science and International Relations; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Law of the Sea
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0922156515000424; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0922156515000424

Abstract The United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf is expected to play an essential role in delineating the rights of the Arctic states to seabed resources in the Arctic Ocean. In this article, the authors look to the effect of scientific discourse on Commission authority. The authors argue that in addition to the conferral of its authority by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Commission draws its authority in the Arctic from the way its regulatory frameworks, aimed at containing or closing off disputes about jurisdiction and sovereign rights, correlate with discursive practices used by transnational networks to reach scientific agreement.