The Politics of Arctic Sovereignty Oil, Ice, and Inuit Governance [Paperback]

Interest in Arctic politics is on the rise. While recent accounts of the topic place much emphasis on climate change or a new geopolitics of the region, the history of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) and Arctic politics reaches back much further in time.

Drawing out the complex relationship between domestic, Arctic, international and transnational Inuit politics, this book is the first in-depth account of the political history of the ICC. It recognises the politics of Inuit and the Arctic as longstanding and intricate elements of international relations. Beginning with European exploration of the region and concluding with recent debates over ownership of the Arctic, the book unfolds the history of a polity that has overcome colonization and attempted assimilation to emerge as a political actor which has influenced both Artic and global governance.

This book will be of strong interest to students and scholars of Arctic politics, indigenous affairs, IR theory and environmental politics.

Preface  Acknowledgements  List of acronyms  Introduction: who are the Arctics Inuit?  1 Sovereignty historicized  Part I Constructing Westphalia  2 Discovery  3 Constructing an indigenous Inuit  Part II Expanding the boundaries of Westphalia  4 Building blocks: domestic Inuit governance  5 Oil and circumpolar Inuit politics  6 Building an Arctic regime  7 Indigenous internationalism: expanding the boundaries of international law  8 Turning theory into practice  Part III Governance beyond Westphalia  9 Arctic governance in a post-August 2007 world  10 Governance beyond Westphalia: the ICC, oil, and Arctic sovereignty  References  Index

Jessica M. Shadianis a Associated Researcher with the Anthropology Research Team at the Arctic Cl.