Niall Juval Janssen
Arctic governance is an ever-transforming and crowded field: from states with Arctic territory to those without, from vast multinational corporations mining in the region to Indigenous peoples and local communities living in the North. One of those actors, the European Union (EU), has repeatedly tried to establish its place in this packed field by inter alia becoming a permanent observer to the Arctic Council (AC). As can be taken from statements of several Arctic foreign affairs officials, the EU’s failing to gain this status is due in significant part to its relations with the Indigenous peoples of the North which have been troubled by poor policy and sometimes even poorer communication. This article seeks to examine the policy positions of the EU towards the Indigenous peoples of the Arctic as communicated in the EU’s Arctic policy papers since 2008. Therefore, it analyses six germane policy papers and communications by relevant political actors and institutions of the EU. To investigate how the inclusion and articulation of Indigenous-specific issues differs from one EU institution to another and how they have changed from 2008-2021, this article employs a quantitative N-dataset/corpus analysis supplemented with minor qualitative research methodologies. The article finds that across relevant EU institutions, the regard for Indigenous-specific issues has increased since 2008. Further, the article argues that the EU needs to improve its coherence and coordination of policies amongst the different institutions to achieve a more successful and sustainable European contribution to Arctic governance. Finally, the author elaborates on possible avenues for future research to assess EU-Indigenous relations in the Arctic.
