ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a comparative analysis of governance of offshore hydrocarbon activities in Norway, Canada and Greenland. The choice of these three regulatory systems, two being designed by states and one designed by a self-government, relies on their sharing relatively similar approaches to offshore regulations as well as space constraints. The chapter shows that a correlation exists between energy policy and offshore regulation. It compares the regulatory features of Canada, Norway and Greenland/Denmark with a focus on three criteria: economic incentive, environment protection and public in particular, indigenous participation. the chapter analyses the extent to which the differences in regulatory responses are related to the energy policies of Canada, Norway and Greenland/Denmark, which consider oil and gas as a commercial good, a public good or a strategic good. It is shown that the dominant characterisations of the country/territory as a neoliberal state, a social democracy and a territory in transition to independence shed light on the regulatory responses of country/territory.
