175
Arctic Yearbook 2013
Arctic Regionalism in Theory & Practice
consultation rights at any stage of deliberation and negotiation processes. Beyond official
membership, there are a large number of non-Arctic observers with partial participation rights
including states, intergovernmental actors and inter-parliamentary as well as non-governmental
organisations.
Having said that, the functionally driven logic of Arctic interdependencies may facilitate state-led
regionalism to respond to common challenges, while it may likewise cap, though not lower, the
prospects for regionalisation.
5
Marine regional governance is much less dependent on and seldom
bring about relative societal coherence and socio-economic homogenisation than do prominent
examples of land-space regions, e.g. the EU. It is beyond the Council‘s mandate to actively foster
deepened social contacts and stakeholder networks. Nevertheless, institutionalised cooperation has
facilitated a geopolitically stable setting and this way expedited further cooperation as well as
regionalisation among non-state actors, e.g. in the case of pooled scientific resources within the
University of the Arctic
(Keskitalo, 2004: 103-123). Other societal, academic and business institutions
have in 2013 formed the
Arctic Circle
. Among the participants are actors as diverse as the
Google Inc.
,
the
Brookings Institution
, the
International Council on Mining & Metals
, numerous research institutions,
magazines like
AlaskaDispatch
and
Foreign Affairs
and academic platforms such as the
Arctic Yearbook
itself. It is the forum‘s mission statement to ‗facilitate dialogue and build relationships to address
rapid changes in the Arctic‘.
6
The
Arctic Circle
in its current shape is nowhere near contesting status
and political authority of the AC, but to the contrary ―aims to support, complement and extend the
reach of the work of the Arctic Council by facilitating a broad exchange of ideas and information‖.
While time will tell which mode and effect diffusion processes between both bodies as well as state
and non-state actors will take, the establishment of the
Arctic Circle
is indicative of an active and
responsive society.
Also in the case of economic cooperation does regional stability
foster ever more interdependence
and complementary use of the Arctic Ocean. By way of example, commercial shipping through
Arctic waters is on the rise in the years to come and thereby raises investment and risk-taking in this
sector. Coastal states plan to build new ports and transhipment hubs as well as transport and urban
infrastructure. Furthermore, western oil companies more and more partner
with Russian
Gazprom
and
Rosneft
in joint ventures leading to interdependencies in the form of transborder flows in
finances, technical equipment and operational expertise (Galkina, 2013).
More maritime traffic
through the Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route together with growing resource
development, in turn, increase the likelihood of oil spills, adverse effects on maritime life and
indigenous communities that live thereof as well as accidents at sea and hence require more
coordination.
In the latter case, the
Arctic Eight
have negotiated the first legally-binding agreement under the
auspices of the Arctic Council, the
Agreement on Cooperation on Aeronautical and Maritime Search and
Rescue in the Arctic
adopted at the ministerial meeting in Nuuk (2011). In the former case, an
Agreement
on Cooperation on marine Oil Pollution Preparedness and Response in the Arctic
followed at the Kiruna
ministerial meeting in May 2013, which recognised ‗the importance of the Arctic marine ecosystem
and of cooperation to promote and encourage the conservation and sustainable use of the marine