Views from the Arctic: Broadening International Relations beyond its prevailing assumptions

The Arctic is often perceived to be a vast empty space, the world’s inhospitable and politically unimportant hinterland. Increasingly at the forefront of the global climate change precipice, the attention the Arctic receives predominantly reflects a passive region that serves as a dire warning of the environmental degradation to come. In reality however, the Arctic is home to over 500,000 indigenous peoples whose heritages reflect thousands of years of subsistence living and adaption to the region’s environment. The political agency of indigenous peoples in the Arctic is integral to the innovative and collaborative space. As a result, indigenous knowledge is an important component for understanding Arctic international relations and developments. However, the narrow framework of mainstream International Relations is unequipped to sufficiently address this reality. This thesis asks: How do Arctic indigenous peoples’ knowledge and perspectives pose a challenge to prevailing...Show moreThe Arctic is often perceived to be a vast empty space, the world’s inhospitable and politically unimportant hinterland. Increasingly at the forefront of the global climate change precipice, the attention the Arctic receives predominantly reflects a passive region that serves as a dire warning of the environmental degradation to come. In reality however, the Arctic is home to over 500,000 indigenous peoples whose heritages reflect thousands of years of subsistence living and adaption to the region’s environment. The political agency of indigenous peoples in the Arctic is integral to the innovative and collaborative space. As a result, indigenous knowledge is an important component for understanding Arctic international relations and developments. However, the narrow framework of mainstream International Relations is unequipped to sufficiently address this reality. This thesis asks: How do Arctic indigenous peoples’ knowledge and perspectives pose a challenge to prevailing International Relations assumptions? With a focus on the challenges and new perspectives that indigenous knowledge offers to the assumptions of state-centrism, agency, cooperation, territoriality, sovereignty and modernity, this thesis endeavours to include indigenous views in a more inclusive and globally representative International Relations. Is it sufficient to analyse the indigenous political role in environmental protection and sustainable development as one of a non-state influence, pressuring states to make environmentally conscious decisions in their policies? Are indigenous political and social arrangements in the Arctic merely an anomaly formation of significant authority within the regular framework of state interactions? This thesis argues that the variety of indigenous beliefs, worldviews, and knowledge provide more discerning and apt frameworks for International Relations theory to understand indigenous peoples’ involvement in Arctic politics.Show less

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Views from the Arctic: Broadening International Relations beyond its prevailing assumptions