ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the roles of the Arctic states, as expressed in cooperation in the Arctic Council. For this description, it predominantly relies on publicly available minutes from Arctic Council SAOs meetings, held for a period of about twenty years, in addition to a material like national Arctic strategy and policy documents. Each country analysis is conducted according to the following structure; firstly, a role conception is developed, which is elaborated upon through the state’s national interests and ideas in and of the Arctic and of Arctic cooperation. Secondly, a role performance is presented which draws on the behavior witnessed in the Arctic Council. Thirdly, a comparison between role conceptions and role performance reveals a probable interaction effect, indicative of the impact others and others’ expectations have on state performance in the Arctic Council. The role mapping gives the following roles: Canada – Protector, Denmark – Pragmatic (coastal state) kid-brother, Finland – Reserved team player, Iceland – Follower with ambitions, Norway – Restless know-how leader, Russia – Responsive informant, Sweden – Teacher on demand, and U.S. – Innate leader. The chapter demonstrates how roles are turned into social positions, relative to others. It is concluded that social interaction effects state behavior, by bringing forth social expectations for states to consider.
