Public and Administrative Law (Books and Journals)
- Arctic Review on Law and Politics From No. 1-1, January 2010 to No. 13, January 2022
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Introduction: Security and Military Power in the Arctic
For a long time, the Arctic has been regarded as a stable region with low tension. However, even though low tension prevails, it is a fact that the circumpolar region also encompasses some of the world’s most capable and potent military capabilities. The key role of the Arctic regarding security issues, international relations and geopolitics, is sometimes underplayed or not fully understood....
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Navigational Rights for Warships in the Northwest and Northeast Passages
Climate change has renewed the debate about shipping in the Arctic due to an expected reduction of ice in these sea lanes. Because of the Arctic slowly opening, allowing for more activity, navigational rights for ships have caught the attention of the world once again, including those of warships. Through analysing the navigational regime for warships in the Northwest and Northeast Passages, this
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Russian Certainty of NATO Hostility: Repercussions in the Arctic
How does a security dilemma dynamic between parties deemed not to hold hostile intentions toward each other emerge and escalate? This article investigates Russian official discourse on NATO engagement in Europe post-Crimea (2014), and its impact on security interaction in the Arctic. We also examine how Russia represents NATO intentions and actions in a context seen by Russia as a relation of war.
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The Strategic Role of Land Power on NATO's Northern Flank
The debate about how to defend NATO’s northern flank is closely connected to geographic particularities, the demanding Arctic climate, as well as to ever-evolving technological developments. This research article aims at investigating the role land power plays in this region, with a special focus on northern Norway. Through investigating how structure and composition of land forces matter at the...
- U.S. Marines and NATO's Northern Flank
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Alignment but not Alliance: Nordic Operational Military Cooperation
Since the start of the Ukrainian crisis in 2014, the Nordic states have sought to advance their defence cooperation “beyond peacetime” to also encompass operational military cooperation in crisis and armed conflict. Relations between the two Nordic non-NATO members, Sweden and Finland, have formed a vanguard, encompassing bilateral operational planning beyond peacetime. While no formal security...
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The Russian Northern Fleet and the (Re)militarisation of the Arctic
Over the last decade, Russia has considerably ramped up its military presence in the Arctic. This is something that attracted much attention from Western countries, especially against the backdrop of deteriorated relations and general mistrust following the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Current developments are to some extent familiar, as they echo the militarisation of the Arctic during the Cold
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Global Standards, Corporate Diagrams and Indigenous Agency: ExxonMobil in Russia and Alaska
This paper examines how a transnational corporation (TNC) translates global standards and corporate policies into programs at sites of extraction. We explore this question through a comparative analysis of ExxonMobil’s operations in two different politico-economic contexts: the Sakhalin-1 project in Russia and the Point Thomson project on the North Slope of Alaska, with field work on Sakhalin...
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Cumulative Effects of Industrial Development and Treaty 8 Infringements in Northeastern British Columbia: The Litigation Yahey v. BC (S151727) - Case Comment
On June 29, 2021, the BC Supreme Court issued the verdict of the Yahey v. British Columbia litigation (S151727). For the first time in Canadian legal history, a First Nation Band (BRFN – BlueBerry River First Nation) sued a provincial Government for the cumulative effects of industrial development intertwined with Treaty 8 infringements. The proceeding lasted for six years (2015–2021), with more...
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Girjas Reindeer Herding Community v. Sweden: Analysing the Merits of the Girjas Case
For the first time in the Swedish Supreme Court, a small Sami reindeer herding community has won an important victory affirming the community’s small game hunting and fishing rights. Because of protracted use and the concept of immemorial prescription, the Court recognised the community’s exclusive hunting and fishing rights, including the right to lease these rights to others. Such leases have...
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From Arctic Science to Global Policy ? Addressing Multiple Stressors Under the Stockholm Convention
Rapid climate change in the Arctic triggers the remobilization of chemical pollution, increasing its exposure and potential impacts in the region. While scientific knowledge on multiple stressors, including the interlinkages between climate change and hazardous chemicals, is increasing, it has proven challenging to translate this knowledge into policy. This study analyzes the process of...
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Indigenous Peoples' Rights and the Norwegian Courts Moving into 2021
This article, by the journal's editor-in-chief, is the lead editorial for volume 12 of journal and introduces the first two articles.
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Ten Years of International Shipping on the Northern Sea Route: Trends and Challenges
Analysis of detailed statistics shows remarkable fluctuations in the volume and composition of voyages on the Northern Sea Route (NSR) along the northern coast of Russia since international use began in 2010. There has been strong growth in destination shipping between the Arctic and ports outside the region, but transit shipping between the Pacific and the Atlantic has not experienced the growth
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The Arctic and Africa in China's Foreign Policy: How Different Are They and What Does This Tell Us?
The article discusses China’s policies in and towards the Arctic and Africa within a comparative perspective. To what extent is China’s policy adaptable to different conditions? What does this adaptability tell us about China’s ascendant great-power role in the world in general? What is the message to the Arctic and Africa respectively? The article concludes that China’s regional strategies aptly
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Dispute Resolution in Modern Treaties: Evolutions, Observations and Next Steps
In Canada, comprehensive land claims agreements – often called modern treaties – between the government and Indigenous nations include provisions prescribing how disputes between treaty parties are to be resolved. Experiences with these dispute resolution mechanisms vary across treaty contexts and there is substantial variance in the terms of these treaties. To date, this dimension of modern...
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The Duty to Consult in Canada Post-Haida Nation
This article is intended as a companion piece to Øyvind Ravna’s contribution to this anniversary volume. It maps the development of the duty to consult in Canadian law since the seminal decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Haida Nation v British Columbia in 2004. The article begins by briefly examining the first references to the duty to consult in 1990 before turning in Part 2 to the...
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The Duty to Consult the Sámi in Norwegian Law
This article deals with the duty to consult indigenous peoples and the obligation to involve these peoples in decision-making processes in matters that concern them. After a general review of international legislation and obligations, particularly the ILO Convention no. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, the article focuses on how these obligations are implemented towards the indigenous Sámi...
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Sámi Law: A Methodological Approach
Sámi law is the law of the Indigenous Sámi people. The territory where Sámi have historically lived is called Sápmi and encompasses parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. This article builds on the premise that Sámi law exists in Sápmi, in parallel with national laws. However, in terms of methodology and content, the scope of research on Sámi law compared to research about Indigenous law...
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Reflecting on the Role of the Arctic Council vis-à-vis a Future International Legally Binding Instrument on Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction
Negotiations are ongoing to develop an international legally binding instrument (ILBI) under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). If adopted, the ILBI will likely apply to parts of the Arctic Ocean where the Arctic Council has played an important role for...
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International Regulations and Guidelines on Transboundary Salmon Stocks: Case Study of the Tana River
The year 2019 was “the international year of the salmon” (IYS). The overarching aim was “to inform and stimulate outreach and research that aspires to establish the conditions necessary to ensure the resilience of salmon and people throughout the Northern Hemisphere;” further, to bring people together, share and develop knowledge, raise awareness and take action. This article is intended as a...
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Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Certification of Arctic Fisheries: Processes and Outcomes
Certification according to private sustainability standards (ecolabelling) has become an important addition to public fisheries management in recent years. The major global ecolabel in terms of comprehensiveness and coverage is the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fisheries Standard. Under the MSC Standard, the status of the fishery’s target stocks, its impact on the wider ecosystem and the...
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Snow Crab in the Barents Sea: Managing a Non-native Species in Disputed Waters
The introduction of a new species to the Barents Sea raises questions as to the rights and duties of states under the law of the sea to exploit, manage and conserve the species. This paper discusses three of them. The first question is whether the snow crab qualifies as a sedentary species. The entitlements and competence of states in respect of living marine resources depend on the location and...
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The Svalbard Treaty and Norwegian Sovereignty
A hundred years ago on 9 February 2020, the Svalbard Treaty was adopted in Paris, granting Norway her long-standing ambition: full and absolute sovereignty over the Svalbard archipelago. After a brief review of the negotiations that preceded the Paris decision, this article examines the main elements of the Treaty: Norwegian sovereignty, the principle of non-discrimination and the terra nullius...
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Implementation of the Polar Code: Functional Requirements Regulating Ship Operations in Polar Waters
In 2017, the The International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code) – a set of function-based regulations applicable to Arctic and Antarctic waters, with the goal of increasing awareness and improving safety for ship operations in polar waters – entered into force. This article examines the Polar Code’s contribution to the establishment of new standards and guidelines, with the...
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Celebrating Ten Years of Arctic Review
This article presents the editors' introduction to the ten-year anniversary issue of Arctic Review on Law and Politics, with a history of the journal and an overview of the issue's contents.
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Russian Expert and Official Geopolitical Narratives on the Arctic: Decoding Topical and Paradigmatic DNA1
This article examines current Russian expert and official narratives on the Arctic, situating them in the broader context of the debate on Russia’s role in the international system. Combining a critical geopolitics approach to the study of international relations with content analysis tools, we map how structural geopolitical changes in the wider region have shaped narratives on the Arctic in...
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Preface to the 10th Anniversary Issue
This article is a brief foreword to the ten-year anniversary issue of Arctic Review on Law and Politics with background about the journal written by the dean of the Faculty of Law at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, the journal's sponsor.
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Conceptualising Human-centric Cyber Security in the Arctic in Light of Digitalisation and Climate Change
The following article revisits existing scholarship on human-centric approaches to security in cyberspace and argues that a holistic understanding of cyber security in the Arctic must include discussion of the use of cyber technology in the everyday lives of individuals and communities, addressing both the ways such tools enable and undermine human security. Simultaneously, the article...
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The Northern Sea Route in the 2010s: Development and Implementation of Relevant Law
The 2010s was a busy decade for the Northern Sea Route (NSR). It started with the first shipping season to feature the international use of the NSR for commercial purposes, followed by a significant reform of the domestic legal regime, as well as the adoption of the Polar Code. The traffic has gradually picked up, and although the expectations of a significant surge in trans-Arctic navigation...
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A Sámi Community Wins Case against the Swedish State in the Supreme Court
On 23 January 2020, the Supreme Court of Sweden delivered an historic verdict in favour of the Girjas sameby in a lawsuit against the Swedish State over a long-standing dispute over the right to administer hunting and fishing rights in the Girjas land management area. Rooted in Sámi customary law, ILO Convention 169 and the UN Declaration of Indigenous Peoples, the verdict is a milestone in the...