Arctic Policies and Strategies – Analysis, Synthesis, and Trends

HEININEN, Lassi, Karen EVERETT, Barbora PADRTOVÁ and Anni REISSELL. Arctic Policies and Strategies – Analysis, Synthesis, and Trends. Online. Laxenburg: IIASA, 2019, 263 pp. ISBN 978-3-7045-0156-1. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.22022/AFI/11-2019.16175.

Basic information

• Original name: Arctic Policies and Strategies – Analysis, Synthesis, and Trends
• Authors: HEININEN, Lassi (246 Finland), Karen EVERETT (124 Canada), Barbora PADRTOVÁ (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution) and Anni REISSELL (246 Finland).
• Edition: Laxenburg, 263 pp. 2019.
• Publisher: IIASA

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Book on a specialized topic
• Field of Study: 50601 Political science
• Country of publisher: Austria
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Publication form: electronic version available online
• WWW: URL
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14230/19:00112090
• Organization unit: Faculty of Social Studies
• ISBN: 978-3-7045-0156-1
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.22022/AFI/11-2019.16175
• Keywords in English: arctic policies; arctic states; strategies; security; environment
• Tags: rivok
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

The scientific report Arctic Policies and Strategies – Analysis, Synthesis and Trends delivers a holistic analysis of the policies, strategies, and declarations of the relevant Arctic stakeholders. It also includes new and/or emerging trends of Arctic governance and geopolitics in the early 21st century. The analysis, using quantitative and qualitative methods, is based on a coding of the text of 56 policy documents (in 1996-2019), namely: i) the strategies and policies of the Arctic States and the Arctic Council Observer States; ii) the policies and declarations of the Arctic Indigenous peoples’ organizations (Permanent Participants); and iii) the main Arctic Council chairmanship programs and ministerial declarations. It considers how different Arctic actors define and address issues around the following: the human dimension, governance, international cooperation, environmental protection, pollution, climate change, security, safety, economy, tourism, infrastructure, and science & education. Each document was read and analyzed thoroughly; quotes were selected and coded and then used to compare and contrast (percentage- wise) how the different documents address the above issues. For each category of stakeholder, the findings are compared within the category and then discussed with each other category-wise. Our study shows that the most-coded quotes of the Arctic States’ policy documents relate to the Governance, Economy, International Cooperation, and Human Dimension indicators, as well as to a new Environmental Protection indicator (composed of Environmental Protection coupled with Pollution and Climate Change). The policy documents of the four Indigenous peoples’ organizations explicitly address issues surrounding Indigenous rights, although in different contexts, and also those related to the Governance indicator, both broadly and in detail. Unsurprisingly, all these documents emphasize the importance of ‘Traditional knowledge.’ The most-quoted indicator in the Arctic policies/strategies of the nine Arctic Council Observer states is the Science and Education indicator, followed by the International Cooperation and Economy indicators. The fourth most-quoted is the new Environmental Protection indicator (composed of Environmental Protection coupled with Pollution and Climate Change).