Arctic Yearbook 2024 - Arctic Relations: Transformations, Legacies and Futures

Call for Abstracts (deadline): 15 March 2024 (250-400 words)

Draft papers (deadline): 15 June 2024 (4500-6500 words)

The Arctic Yearbook is calling for abstracts for its 2024 volume.

The Arctic Yearbook is an international and peer-reviewed volume which focuses on issues of regional governance, development, environmental politics, circumpolar relations, geopolitics and security, all broadly defined. It is an open access, online publication.

This year’s theme is “Arctic relations: Transformations, Legacies and Futures”. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 has dramatically shifted the geopolitical context of the Arctic, yet brought no armed conflicts into the region. The subsequent “pause” of the Arctic Council instigated by the other seven Arctic states placed decades of collaboration among state officials, Indigenous peoples, scientists, and other experts in this unique forum on hold. The geopolitical context has also placed tremendous strain on other important forums, institutions, and networks that engage with issues related to the Arctic.

In this evolving landscape, many questions have been raised about what future cooperation will look like among the many different types of actors that contribute to Arctic governance, as well as the diverse issue areas they contribute to. It is now more important than ever to take stock of the successful aspects of circumpolar governance and cooperation, how it emerged in the wake of the Cold War, how it has evolved over the past three decades, and how and whether to engage with an adversarial Russia.

The Arctic region has been “in constant transformation, (geo)politically, economically, culturally and indeed environmentally and geologically” (Arctic Yearbook, 2017), and “these rapid transformations... are affecting the entire Earth system” (Toyama Conference Statement, 2015). The many transformations the Arctic region has experienced since the end of the Cold War include the shift from military tension to trans-boundary cooperation on environmental protection and science; a recognition of the Arctic as a distinctive, cooperative region with shared interests and high geopolitical stability supported by shared region-building and knowledge-building activities; an increasing awareness of the implications of the climate crisis and globalization; the broadening of the debate among Arctic states’ and other non-state actors including Indigenous Peoples about the balance of environmental protection and economic activities; and finally, new uncertainties emerging due to the resurgence of great power rivalries with arms race and lack of arms control, and that of a new East-West tension with tit-for-tat and the related hot / proxy wars, as well as the pause of pan-Arctic cooperation.

Of particular interest for this volume are discussions and critical analyses on the following topics:

• Arctic transformations and their legacies, including analyses related to the emergence, growth, decline of state and non-state cooperation;
• Lessons learned from the Cold War, including functional cooperation, backchannel diplomacy, and rapprochement;
• Dynamics, factors, features, and key actors of transformations/transitions in world politics, from perspectives in the field of international relations, security studies and other related disciplines;
• The role and importance of functional cooperation (in areas including science and research, environmental cooperation, Indigenous rights, economic development, infrastructure) and shared/common interests – theoretically and in practice, and/or lessons learned;
• The role and means of (Arctic) states and non-state actors (Indigenous peoples, sub-national governments, NGOs) in confidence and stability-building, and their contributions to Arctic governance;
• How cooperation and confidence-building was conducted between the Arctic states in the end of the 20^th century, in particular with the Soviet Union/Russia;
• The purpose and/or role of the Arctic Council & its Working Groups in cooperation and governance, as well as other Arctic-focused forums, institutions, and networks;
• Analyses of the narrative that the Arctic is unique, a model or exceptionally stable and cooperative in relation to world politics;
• Reviews and analyses of the challenges facing cooperation today and the current policies of Arctic states;
• The legacies of the Arctic region's cooperative framework, as well as their influence on the future of Arctic politics and cooperation;
• If and/or how pan-Arctic cooperation can continue and maintain geopolitical stability - what are the lessons learned for the future?
• What are the new emerging issues that require dialogue, and are contemporary forums, networks and organizations capable of their management? What would be available and supportive procedures and methods for that? What does the future of Arctic governance look like?

Other topics of contemporary significance to Arctic development, governance, geopolitics, security, and community well-being will also be welcome.

Abstracts should be 250-400 words and include author name(s), institutional affiliation and article title, to be submitted to and . The deadline for abstracts is March 15, 2024. Notice of acceptance will be provided on March 31, 2024. Articles must be submitted by June 15, 2024. Publication is planned for Fall 2024.

We also welcome proposals for commentaries (1-3 page opinion pieces) and briefing notes (4-7 page analyses) from experts and policymakers on current issues and events.

EDITOR

Lassi Heininen

MANAGING EDITOR

Heather Exner-Pirot

Justin Barnes

EDITORIAL BOARD

• (Chair) Dr. Alexander Pelyasov (Russian Academy of Sciences; Director of the Center of Northern and Arctic Economics; Ministry of Economic Development & Trade, Russian Federation)
• Dr. Lawson W. Brigham (Global Fellow, Wilson Center Polar Institute; Research Faculty, University of Alaska Fairbanks)
• Dr. Daria Burnasheva (Senior Lecturer at Arctic State Institute of Culture and Arts, Sakha Republic)
• Dr. Miya Christensen (Professor at University of Stockholm, Sweden)
• Halldór Johannsson (Executive Director, Arctic Portal, Iceland)
• Dr. Kirsi Latola (Research Coordinator, UArctic Vice-President Networks, Finland)
• Dr. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson (Former President of the Republic of Iceland, Chair of the Arctic Circle)
• James Ross, (Gwich’in leader, Northwest Territories, Canada)