ABSTRACT
The Arctic Council is an international soft-law institution established in 1996 to address issues of environmental protection and sustainable development in the Arctic. Its membership comprises the eight states with sovereignty over territory north of the Arctic Circle: Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the USA. Numerous non-Arctic states, international bodies, and nongovernmental organizations participate as observers. The formation of the Arctic Council, enabled by the late-1980s thaw in East–West relations, and its subsequent institutional development reflect the importance of global processes for Arctic governance. The Council’s 2013 acceptance of several new observer applications, also from emerging countries like China and India, reflects acknowledgment that many activities that produce Arctic environmental challenges occur outside the region or fall under the full or partial jurisdiction of non-Arctic states. The structure of the Arctic Council has grown firmer and its activities have expanded to cover knowledge building, capacity enhancement, and norm development.
