Evaluating normative capacity through Arctic environmental governance

International cooperation in the Arctic is largely operationalised through environmental governance in a constellation of institutions that promote scientific knowledge of the Arctic region. While the Arctic Council is placed at the centre of this network for environmental protection and resource management across the region, other institutions play critical roles in facilitating scientific knowledge production that promotes the security and development of the region and its resources across national boundaries. Evaluating the role of environmental protection in Arctic governance within models of science diplomacy, this paper argues that the assumption of environmental responsibility should act as a normative operator for Arctic environmental governance, shaping the relations between actors in this regional network and legitimising decision-making by Arctic states as they socially construct the mechanisms and regional exceptionalism of Arctic governance. However, environmental responsibility falls short of acting as a normative operator for environmental protection that also prevents the impact of climate change on the Arctic environment, excluding its function as an overarching normative operator for the international system, reducing state legitimacy for regional decision-making in extra-territorial spaces.

Automated summary

International cooperation in the Arctic relies on environmental governance to promote scientific knowledge and facilitate the security and development of the region across national boundaries. While the Arctic Council plays a central role in this network, other institutions also contribute to scientific knowledge production. This paper argues that environmental responsibility should shape relations between actors in the regional network and legitimize decision-making by Arctic states, but falls short in preventing the impact of climate change and reducing state legitimacy for decision-making in extra-territorial spaces.