ABSTRACT

After the region-building of the 1990s, the Arctic narrative started to shift focus in the early 2000s toward a global framing. An initial impetus came from climate science and its view of the Arctic as part of a global system. This scientific framing soon became entangled with competing political interests and tensions related to resources, sovereignty and ultimately who should have a say in the future of the region. In the process, well-established global norms and political structures were enrolled, even as the geography of the region was in flux. Three tropes appear as recurring themes, each with its own discursive implications: the Arctic as a bellwether of environmental change, rights over Arctic resources and the notion of the global Arctic. By delving beyond the surface of these three tropes and how they became powerful frames for discussing the circumpolar north, this chapter focuses on how today’s debates about the region’s future are rooted in earlier contestations about defining the Arctic.