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Abstract
Interest in the future of the Arctic is running high, motivated in large part by belief that climate change will open new possibilities (and unleash new threats). Wealth from shipping and natural resource extraction features prominently in narratives about the Arctic in the media, and governance of the region has become a major concern as new actors demand influence. We use three components of current discourse about the Arctic to help reveal connections between how the region is constructed and how the right to decide its future is articulated. Voices are the actors who participate in the discursive construction of Arctic futures, with varying degrees of influence. Resources are objects upon which actors inscribe values, thus locating them in the discourse. Governance refers to the structural features through which action is regulated within spaces, restricting also the range of legitimate actors. We demonstrate the usefulness of these concepts through brief case studies of coal on Spitsbergen, hydrocarbons in the Barents Sea and whaling in the North Atlantic. We conclude by emphasizing the value of a historical perspective to understanding contemporary debates about the future of the Arctic.
Acknowledgements
The article is written as part of the project Assessing Arctic Futures. Voices, Resources and Governance, funded by the programme Mistra Arctic Futures in a Global Context (Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research). We want to thank our colleagues in the project for inspiring discussions.
The case study of Russian oil as gas was developed with assistance from Nadezhda Filimonova as part of her internship at Stockholm Environment Institute in the fall of 2012.
Notes
1 The Economist, “Arctic Politics.”
2 Arbo et al., Arctic Futures.
3 Arctic Council, Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment; Cavalieri et al. Arctic Footprint and Policy Assessment.
4 See Heininen, “Arctic Strategies and Policies” for an overview.
5 Kraska ed., Arctic Security.
6 While our approach is somewhat different to that taken recently by other historians – see for instance the essays in the recent American Historical Review forum on “History and the Future” – we share the belief that “futures” are excellent windows into power relations.
7 Foucault, Discipline and Punish. For a productive application of the concept of genealogy to Arctic region-building, see Keskitalo, Negotiating the Arctic.
8 Latour, Science in Action; Law and Callon, “The Life and Death of an Aircraft.”
9 Latour, Science in Action.
10 Arlov, “UNIS.”
11 Koivurova, “Draft Arctic Saami Council.”
12 BarentsObserver, “Crackdown on RAIPON.”
13 Zimmerman, World Resources and Industries.
14 Bridge, “Material Worlds,” 1219.
15 Ernstson and Sörlin, Articulating Values in Urban Nature.
16 Armstrong, Rogers, and Rowley, The Circumpolar North.
17 Nuttall, “Indigenous Peoples”: Andersen and Midttun, “Conflict and Local Mobilization.”
18 BBC News, “Polar Bear Trade Ban Defeated At Meeting.”
19 Nielsen and Knudsen, “Too Hot to Handle.”
20 business.dk, “Grønland overvejer uran-miner.”
21 Young, “Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change.”
22 Arctic Ocean Conference, “The Ilulissat Declaration.”
23 McAnulla, “Structure and Agency,” 271.
24 Wormbs (2003), Avango (2005).
25 Armstrong, The Northern Sea Route.
26 Keskitalo, Negotiating the Arctic.
27 Avango, “Sveagruvan;” Avango et al., “Between Markets and Geo-politics”: Coates, Arctic Front.
28 Hacquebord and Avango, “Settlements in an Arctic Resource Frontier Region.”
29 Avango, “Sveagruvan.”
30 Avango, “Sveagruvan;” Hartnell, “Arctic Network Builders.”
31 Avango et al., “Between Markets and Geo-politics;” Berg, “Fornorskningen av Arktis;” Wråkberg, Vetenskapans vikingatåg.
32 Avango, “Knowledge and Legitimacy.”
33 Avango, “Sveagruvan;” Holtsmark, “A Soviet Grab for the High North?”
34 Avango, Hacquebord, and Wråkberg, “Continuity and Change.”
35 United States Geological Survey, Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal.
36 Novikov, z Istorii Osvoenja Sovetskoi Arktiki; Belov, Severnii Morskoj Put’.
37 Gramberg et al., Perspektivi neftegazonosnosti zentralnogo sektora Sovetskoj Arktiki; Armstrong, “Oil and Gas in the Soviet Arctic.”
38 Vartanov and Roginko, “New Dimensions of Soviet Arctic Policy;” Åtland, “Mikhail Gorbachev.”
39 Young, Creating Regimes.
40 Horensma, The Soviet Arctic.
41 Strukova, Prokliatie nedra.
42 Russian Federation, “Law on Subsurface Resources.”
43 Federation, “Law on the Continental Shelf.”
44 Moe, “Russian and Norwegian Petroleum Strategies.” These legal restrictions also cover access to technology.
45 Marson, “Gazprom Postpones Shtokman Investment Decision.”
46 Selin and Bashmakova, Znachenie sevenix i arkticheskix regionov v novix geoekonomicheskix usloviax razvitia Rossii.
47 Tyrrell, “Sentient Beings and Wildlife Resources,” 575.
48 Schwach, Havet, fisken, og vitenskapen, 133.
49 Roberts, The European Antarctic, Burnett, The Sounding of the Whale.
50 Epstein, The Power of Words in International Relations.
51 Freeman et al., Inuit, Whaling, and Sustainability.
52 BBC, “Inuit Demand Whale Catch,” “Japan Blocks Indigenous Whaling.”
53 Speca, “In the Belly of the Whaling Commission;” International Whaling Commission, “Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling.”
54 Hardy, “A Regional Approach to Whaling.”
55 North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission, “Agreement.” NAMMCO’s research program includes a long-running Committee on Hunting Methods.
56 Owen, “The Interaction between the ASCOBANS MOP and the IWC, NAMMCO and EC.”
57 Lackenbauer and Farish, “The Cold War on Canadian Soil.”