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Strength in Numbers? The Nordic Ministerial and Parliamentary Groupings as Observers in the Arctic Council

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Non-state Actors in the Arctic Region

Part of the book series: Springer Polar Sciences ((SPPS))

Abstract

Observer status within the Arctic Council has become a highly prized participatory privilege in recent years. Thus far, the extensive literature on current and prospective Observers has focused on the aspirations of particular states and the convoluted position of the European Union, while lesser attention has been accorded to the role of Inter-Parliamentary and Intergovernmental Organisations within the Arctic Council. This Chapter therefore contributes to the wider literature on Polar governance by examining the aspirations and approaches of two particular Observers whose Arctic ambitions have been relatively little studied to date, namely the Nordic Council and the West Nordic Council. This Chapter accordingly traces the development of discernible Arctic strategies within these two bodies, for whom engagement with the Arctic Council follows divergent and intriguing patterns. This Chapter also considers the specific contributions that these organisations can respectively make to the Arctic Council and the significance that Observer status holds both for the wider work of these particular institutions, and the implications this may have for their individual constituent members.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiff University, School of Law and Politics, Cardiff, UK

    Richard Caddell

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  1. Richard Caddell
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Correspondence to Richard Caddell .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Sellheim Environmental, Hambühren, Germany

    Nikolas Sellheim

  2. Polar Research and Policy Initiative (PRPI), London, UK

    Dwayne Ryan Menezes

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Caddell, R. (2022). Strength in Numbers? The Nordic Ministerial and Parliamentary Groupings as Observers in the Arctic Council. In: Sellheim, N., Menezes, D.R. (eds) Non-state Actors in the Arctic Region. Springer Polar Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12459-4_7

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