ABSTRACT
The Arctic region has become a playing field for global interests linked to shipping, natural resources and, ultimately, control over an uncertain future. The geopolitical uncertainty created by the impacts of climate change has served as a canvas on to which strong state interests can be projected in ways that challenge any notion of ‘the regional’ as a desired platform for international governance. In media narratives and imaginaries, the Arctic is thus often portrayed as either a national interest or a global concern. The myriad local perspectives from the Arctic are much less prominent. Nonetheless, peaceful cooperation in the region over the past three decades has created civil society and media networks across national borders. A combination of the development of people-to-people links and the expanding material infrastructure for communication has created a new setting for Arctic geopolitics. There is now greater potential for local voices to challenge future visions that might be in the global and national interest but locally problematic. The ‘regional’ is thus not so much about the legitimacy and power of any specific governance mechanisms, such as the Arctic Council, as about social networks enabled by increasing communications capacities and the involvement of actors from a growing diversity of positions.
