| Summary: | The Arctic has entered the world stage, with rapid changes gaining attention from global actors. Climate change is impacting the Arctic much sooner and more dramatically than in other areas of the world, with the Arctic ice-cap melting at a rapid pace. The ‘opening’ of the Arctic is changing its global role and the world is trying to keep up. Non-Arctic actors have shown great interest in the region, including China and Japan. In 2013, China and Japan were accepted as permanent observers to the Arctic Council and since then both have published official Arctic policies. Their involvement has brought up the question of who can be defined as an Arctic ‘stakeholder’. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the extent to which the Arctic policies of China and Japan are similar (or different); and to compare their Arctic practices, with respect to each other as well as to their own respective policies. The main findings suggest that while both states are attempting to construct their own narratives of the Arctic-to-be, although doing so differently, they are currently both willing to accept the norms and soft-law of the current Arctic structure in exchange for a seat at the decision-making table. Loftslagsbreytingar eru að valda örari og dramatískari áhrifum á norðuskautssvæðið en á önnur svæði jarðar og hafís svæðisins er að bráðna á ógnarhraða. Þessar gífurlegu breytingar á norðurskautssvæðinu vekja heimsathygli og möguleg opnun svæðisins er að umbreyta hlutverki þess á alþjóðavettvangi. Ríki sem teljast ekki til norðurslóðaþjóða hafa sýnt mikinn áhuga á svæðinu, Kína og Japan þar á meðal. Árið 2013 voru Kína og Japan samþykkt sem svokallaðir fastir áheyrnarfulltrúar (e. permanent observers) í Norðurslóðaráðinu og síðan þá hafa bæði ríkin gefið út opinberar norðurslóðastefnur. Þátttaka Japans og Kína í málefnum norðurslóða vekur upp þá spurningu hverjir teljast til hagmunaaðila (e. ‘stakeholder’) í málum norðurslóða. Markmiðið með þessari ritgerð er að greina að hvaða leiti norðurslóðastefnur Japans og Kína eru líka ...
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