International Arctic Law –IntArcticLaw
The obvious problem posed to international law remains to be its uniform
implementation among sovereign entities. States only abide by rules of
law, which they have consented to. Not all states at all the time give
their consent to all the international agreements or treaties. The USA,
for example, is not a party to UNCLOS; Canada has decided to withdraw
from the Kyoto Protocol; and Russia has not ratified several of the
international agreements applicable to the Arctic. A common legal
approach is not always there to mitigate a number of identical
challenges facing nation states. For a broader understanding of the
applicability of international law in the Arctic, it is crucial to
analyse relevant hard law and soft law discourses in order to strive for
a strengthened foundation of Arctic governance. The project will
analyse doctrinal elements available and the Arctic states’ adherence to
them, as well as gaps in knowledge when addressing the Arctic as a
unique region. In this context the project aims to look into
environmental governance regulations by taking into consideration many
of the existing multilateral environmental instruments which many Arctic
states are parties to. The project also intends to provide an
understanding of the applicability of universal regulations to the
Arctic, such as the law of the sea. The overall objective is therefore
to identify diverse challenges and complications, which arise from
Arctic issues, and to analyse and develop an understanding of these from
the vantage point of international law. This study includes a multitude
of issues ranging from sovereignty to international security and
governance, from geopolitics to resource management, from environmental
protection to economic globalisation, from human rights to human
development, et cetera.
Background
The Arctic is a region that ties together three continents: Asia, Europe
and North America. Eight states are located within these three
continents and are defined as Arctic states. However, none of these
states, in their entirety, fall within the region as a whole. The Arctic
only covers the northern region of each state. Over the past two or
three decades the Arctic, once originally thought of as a peripheral
region, began to attain a new status toward the end of the 1980s. The
Arctic is part of a complex system of political, social, and economic
dynamics linking actors inside and outside the region. The region is of
tremendous significance, both in terms of its untapped resources
(becoming readily available as climate change increases sea ice
depravation) and in terms of the region’s geopolitical standing. It is
suggested that whilst there are emerging economic opportunities, there
are also significant concerns regarding the levels of change, which the
region shall gradually undergo. International law will play an
increasingly relevant role in the Arctic due to the region’s composition
– eight states with territorial borderlines on land and sea, as well as
sea areas beyond national jurisdiction. Unlike Antarctica, the Arctic
has no single international governance regime. This is much due to the
fact that one polar region is a continent covered with ice, uninhabited,
and surrounded by ocean, whereas the other is an ocean surrounded by
land and ice masses, making up the territories of sovereign states.
Arctic governance is widely recognised as a complex system of fragmented
international and regional regulations, which are complemented by
non-binding soft law mechanisms, usually as a result of Arctic Council
initiatives. These two types of legal apparatuses enshrined within the
region, herald an age of diverse, convoluted challenges, which can only
be dealt with responsibly through international cooperation between
Arctic states and non-Arctic actors or states. It also remains to be
seen whether external actors could influence Arctic governance in the
following years to come; particularly the EU, which claims legitimacy in
Arctic affairs and exercises its regulatory system in a number of
Arctic states through mechanisms empowered by European Law. The aim of
this project is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the
practical role which international law plays in the broader context of
Arctic governance. This broader context would also include the
aforementioned complex geopolitical dynamics in which diplomacy and
international relations play a significant role.
Specific Research Questions
The specific questions to be addressed include: What is the scope of
international law in Arctic governance? How does international law
function in the peripheral context, such as in the Arctic? Should there
be a re-definition of international law where diverse legal mechanisms
(hard law/soft law hybridisation) is present, such as in the Arctic?
Would such hybridisation be capable of constituting an Arctic
international legal order? What attitudes do Arctic states have towards
international law, both in terms of exercising sovereignty as well as
ensuring legal limits prescribed by international law? How do the new
rules of the “game” emerge in an Arctic specific context? How do these
new rules come into play for both Arctic and non-Arctic states/actors?
Or, in other words, do so-called Arctic “insiders” and “outsiders”
exist, especially in regard to the integration of various interests
within the Arctic system of governance? How does the formal
international law regime (hard law regime) interact with the informal
regime (the so-called soft law regime), given that the hard law regime
does not present a win-win situation in the Arctic context? How does the
functioning of existing institutions, both international – such as the
International Maritime Organization (IMO) – and, regional – such as the
Arctic Council and/or Barents Euro-Arctic Council – play a significant
role in the development of international law norms within the Arctic?
How are Arctic institutions evaluated against the impression that
institutions are not regarded as international organisations in the
sense of international law and therefore lack legal personality or the
potential to provide resolutions considered to be legally binding? Do
these resolutions contribute to norm making in international law, and if
they do, how? What would be the future of Arctic institutions in
shaping environmental, socio-political and economic order in the Arctic?
What developments has the Arctic shown in regard to the promotion of
human rights, especially with respect to its indigenous peoples whose
effective participation has been ensured by the governance structure of
the Arctic Council which allows them a unique “Permanent Participant”
status? What implications may this status have in the promotion of both
international law and human rights? Does it imply that deeper engagement
in the decision making process gives indigenous peoples more
opportunities to contribute to law making in international law, which
may over time give them an entitlement as passive legal persons in
international law? In the effort to answer these questions, this project
takes the form of an umbrella under which several of the issue areas of
international legal significance will be addressed. The project aims to
deepen our common understanding regarding the following international
legal issues:
a. Sovereignty, security and dispute settlement
b. Climate change, environment, and resources management
c. Law of the Sea and the Arctic Ocean
d. Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples
e. Globalisation and Arctic governance
Project Objectives
- Research
- Knowledge dissemination
- Networking
- Teaching and supervision
Methodology
In answering the research questions mentioned above, the project will
seek insights from theoretical approaches associated with political
science and international relations. In other words, when answering
research questions, an inter-disciplinary character of methodology will
be achieved as studies combine researchers from different disciplinary
backgrounds who shall identify relevant problems and possible solutions.
Wherever necessary, a comparative legal method will be applied to
better understand the national and international regulations within the
Arctic.
Within the thematic areas mentioned above, the project will undertake
extensive research; the foundations of which have already been made
exclusive within the findings from previous projects carried out by the
research leader of this project, his colleagues and team members. Since
the purpose of this project is to primarily develop knowledge, the
researchers would rather adopt an epistemological approach, where indeed
practical aspects will be combined in the process of knowledge
building.
In the first place, it is important to gather already existing
literature available on the proposed theme. Literature may be contained
within books and scholarly monographs, as well as scientific articles
published in high quality international journals, such as those already
publishing work done by the research lead and his colleagues worldwide.
In addition, relevant national and international legislation including
international treaties and agreements, significant documents produced by
international organisations and bodies, et cetera, will be included as
research material. The literature will not only include academic works,
but will also include other informal sources, such as news clips,
non-academic reports, policy reports, stake holder documents, et cetera.
These materials will be collected both from physical and online
sources. A literature review will create the preliminary basis for the
research project.
The will require knowledge gathering by collaborating with other
partners or partner institutions, both from Finland and abroad. The
research lead intends to broaden the scope of already existing
collaboration between these partners. For the purposes of this project, a
number of internationally accredited scholars have kindly consented to
take part as expert supervisors, who will also be invited as
guest-speakers in workshops and seminars conducted as part of this
project where these experts will guide to identify relevant coherent
research questions.