Governing the Arctic:Is the Arctic Council going global?

• Published in: Jindal Global Law Review
• Main Authors: Hossain, Kamrul, Mihejeva, Marija
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Arctic Council; Northern Sea Route; Exclusive economic zone; United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); Convention on Biological Diversity; /dk/atira/pure/person/fieldofscience2010/5/13; name=Law; /dk/atira/pure/person/fieldofscience2010/5/17/2; name=International political science; Arctic; Law of the Sea
• Online Access: https://research.ulapland.fi/fi/publications/29515cb5-7c5c-4530-92d0-80b8bd29f005; https://doi.org/10.1007/s41020-017-0044-0

This article explores the possibility for an Arctic Council (AC) that would a have global voice, achieved through multilateral engagements. The number of observers, including non-Arctic states, has grown robustly in recent years, yet the structure of the Council does not allow for an increase in its membership. The present structure does not afford particularly extensive engagement for actors other than members, a shortcoming which hampers ``effective inclusiveness'' and a global orientation. We examine the roles and functions of the AC, as well as its structural expansions, to identify gaps that could be filled by accommodating multilateralism in its structure. Improvements in the position of the non-Arctic states as observers were proposed in 2015 in the addendum to Observer Manual 2013, signaling a willingness on the part of the Council to accommodate the voices of other actors. We argue that this trend will spark a trend enabling greater engagement by global actors. In assessing the future direction of the Council, we argue that what he have termed ``effective inclusiveness'' would offer a suitable mechanism for governing a globalized Arctic and thus making the AC a stronger global forum, one in which actions achieve greater global legitimacy.