In our (frozen) backyard : the Eurasian Union and regional environmental governance in the Arctic

• Main Author: Hartwell, Christopher A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 2023
• Subjects: Regional environmental governance; Russia; Arctic; Decentralization; Polycentrism; Eurasian Union; info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/363
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/11475/28166; https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-023-03491-7; https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-28166; https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/28166

Erworben im Rahmen der Schweizer Nationallizenzen (http://www.nationallizenzen.ch) Regional environmental governance has emerged as a viable alternative to supranational environmental solutions, using regional and local knowledge and actors to tailor more efective policies. This does not deny a role for supranational institutions, however, which can enable their members to efectively shift towards such a decentralized and polycen tric approach. In specifc regions such as the Arctic, with many national and local actors interested in environmental improvement, such impetus from meta-organizations (i.e., organizations comprised of organizations) could result in benefcial environmental out comes. This paper examines an underutilized institution, the Eurasian Union (EaEU), and the role it currently plays in facilitating regional environmental governance. Focusing on its largest member, Russia—and the only member with an Arctic linkage—I explore the tension between supranational facilitation and interference in an area not directly afect ing all members. Despite explicit Russian interest in this realm, the EaEU may be able to infuence Russian environmental policy for the better via multilateral means and internal mechanisms. By challenging the Russian monopoly on Arctic policy in the EaEU, these additional voices may.