Debates over the Role of the Arctic Council

Abstract

Abstract This article examines the role(s) that the member governments want the Arctic Council to have in Arctic Ocean affairs. The article identifies and examines three determining debates over the role and future of the Arctic Council: The first preceded the Arctic Council's creation in 1996, the second occurred during and as a result of the Ilulissat meeting in 2008, and the third followed the political shift in the United States in 2009. Keywords: Arctic CouncilArctic Oceanforeign policy Notes 1. M. Gorbachev, speech in Murmansk at the Ceremonial Meeting on the Occasion of the Presentation of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star to the City of Murmansk, 1 October 1987, available at www.barentsinfo.fi/docs/Gorbachev_speech.pdf. 2. G. Oroshenko and O. Young, The Age of the Arctic: Hot Conflicts and Cold Realities, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989). 3. See generally concerning the debate, S. D. Krasner, ed., International Regimes (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983). 4. T. Koivurova, "Limits and Possibilities of the Arctic Council in a Rapidly Changing Scene of Arctic Governance," Polar Record 46 (2009): 146–156. 5. The U.S. Embassy in Oslo has been informed of the author's access to the Cablegate database and his intention of using it for Arctic policy studies. No objections were raised. Personal communication (meeting), 29 March 2011, Diplomats, Oslo. 6. Content search words include "Arctic Council" and "Ilulissat" (correctly spelled as well as misspelled). 7. Tags include PBTS (National Boundaries, Territories, and Sovereignty) and XQ (Arctic Ocean Area). 8. Origins include the U.S. State Department in Washington, DC, and the U.S. Embassies in the capitals of other Arctic states. 9. United States, "United States Arctic Policy," National Security Decision Directive 90, 14 April 1983, available at www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nsdd/nsdd-090.htm. 10. Minister of Foreign Affairs Joe Clark, speech delivered at Norway-Canada Conference on Circumpolar Issues, Tromsø, December 1987, quoted in O. Young, Arctic Politics: Conflict and Cooperation in the Circumpolar North (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1992), 180. 11. Gorbachev speech, supra note 1. 12. "Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy," Rovaniemi, Finland, June 1991, available at arctic-council.org/filearchive/artic_environment.pdf. 13. Declaration on the Establishment of the Arctic Council, Ottawa, 19 September 1996, available at www.international.gc.ca/polar-polaire/ottdec-decott.aspx?view=d. 14. Ibid. 15. See, generally, Koivurova, supra note 4, at 147. 16. Arctic Council, Rules of Procedure, Rule 7, available at the Web site of the Arctic Council, www.arctic-council.org. 17. The issue of observers has recently been a major one (see further below). In 2009, the Arctic Council adopted new criteria for observers. New observers must inter alia recognize the sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction of the Arctic states in the Arctic and that "an extensive legal framework applies to the Arctic Ocean including, notably, the Law of the Sea, and that this framework provides a solid foundation for responsible management of this ocean." See Arctic Council, "Observers," 27 April 2011, available at www.arctic-council.org/index.php/en/about-us/partners-links. 18. Treaty Concerning the Archipelago of Spitsbergen, London, adopted 9 February 1920, entered into force on 14 August 1925, 2 L.N.T.S. 7. 19. Note in D. D. Caron, "Images of the Arctic and the Futures They Suggest," a Law Library of Congress Lecture, 30 May 2011, available at works.bepress.com/david_caron/119/. 20. Convention Ceding Alaska Between Russia and the United States, Washington, DC, adopted 30 March 1867, entered into force on 20 June 1867, in C. Parry, ed., Consolidated Treaty Series, Vol. 134, 331. 21. J. J. Holst, "Security and Defense Issues in the Arctic Region: A Norwegian Perspective," paper presented at the Nordic Council Arctic Conference, 1993, copy in possession of the author. 22. O. Young, Arctic Politics: Conflict and Cooperation in the Circumpolar North (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1992), at 28. 23. E. T. Bloom, "Establishment of the Arctic Council," American Journal of International Law 93 (1999): 712–722, at 714. 24. See T. Pedersen, "The Arctic Region: Too Cold for Cooperation," master's thesis, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, December 1996. 25. Bloom, supra note 23, at 714. 26. Pedersen, supra note 24. 27. Bloom, supra note 23, at 718. 28. Pedersen, supra note 24. 29. U.S. Department of State, "State Department on Conclusion of Arctic Council Ministerial," Media Note, 12 May 2011, available at iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/texttrans/2011/05/20110512171128su0.1273921.html#axzz1NGFfKMxq. 30. Ibid. 31. Ibid. 32. The author attended parts of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's program during her visit to Svalbard in August 2004. 33. The Ilulissat Declaration, 28 May 2008, 48 I.L.M. 362. 34. Ibid. 35. Ottawa Declaration, supra note 13. 36. S. Borgerson, "Arctic Meltdown: The Economic and Security Implications of Global Warming," Foreign Affairs (March-April 2008): 63–77, at 63; TIME, 1 October 2007, cover, "Who Owns the Arctic?" 37. S. Borgerson, supra note 36, at 63. 38. U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, "Deputy Secretary's Participation at Arctic Ocean Conference in Greenland," cable to the U.S. State Department, 6 June 2008. Ref. 08COPENHAGEN321, Cablegate database, see supra notes 5–8 and accompanying text. 39. U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, "Deputy Secretary's Meeting with Canadian Resource Minister Lunn in Greenland," cable to the U.S. Secretary of State, 11 June 2008. Ref. 08COPENHAGEN338, Cablegate database, see supra notes 5–8 and accompanying text 40. Ibid. 41. U.S. Embassy, "Deputy Secretary's Participation," supra note 38. 42. U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, "Deputy Secretary's Meeting with Danish FM Moeller in Greenland," cable to U.S. Secretary of State, 11 June 2008. Ref. 08COPENHAGEN336, Cablegate database, see supra notes 5–8 and accompanying text. 43. Ibid. 44. U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, "Deputy Secretary's Participation at Arctic Ocean Conference in Greenland," cable to the U.S. Secretary of State, 11 June 2008. Ref. 08COPENHAGEN335, Cablegate database, see supra notes 5–8 and accompanying text. 44a. U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, "Deputy Secretary's Meeting with Norwegian FM Stoere in Greenland," cable to the U.S. Secretary of State, 11 June 2008. Ref 08COPENHAGEN337, Cablegate database, see supra notes 5–8 and accompanying text. 46. Ibid. 47. U.S. Embassy, "Deputy Secretary's Participation," supra note 38. 48. U.S. Secretary of State, "Secretary Clinton's 4/6/2009 Meeting with Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon," cable to the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, 8 April 2009. Ref. 09STATE34174, Cablegate database, see supra notes 5–8 and accompanying text. 49. Ibid. 50. Ibid. 51. Ibid. 52. Ibid. 53. U.S. Secretary of State, "Secretary Clinton's Meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, April 6, 2009," cable to the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, 10 April 2009. Ref. 09STATE35243, Cablegate database, see supra notes 5–8 and accompanying text. 54. U.S. Secretary of State, "Secretary Clinton's May 7, 2009 Meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov," cable to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, 14 May 2009. Ref. 09STATE49495, Cablegate database, see supra notes 5–8 and accompanying text. 55. U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, "Ambassador Fulton Meets Greenland Premier," cable to the U.S. Secretary of State, 18 August 2009. Ref. 09COPENHAGEN356, Cablegate database, see supra notes 5–8 and accompanying text. 56. Ibid. 57. M. B. Sheridan, "Clinton Rebukes Canada at Arctic Meeting," Washington Post, 29 March 2010, available at www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/29/AR2010032901626.html. 58. Ibid. 59. Nuuk Declaration on the Occasion of the Seventh Ministerial Meeting of the Arctic Council, 12 May 2011, available at arctic-council.org/filearchive/nuuk_declaration_2011_signed_copy-1.pdf. 60. U.S. Department of State, "State Department on Conclusion of Arctic Council Ministerial," supra note 29.