The future of the Arctic, as its ice melts by land and sea, has become a hot topic in governmental as well as academic and media circles. Over the last decade, each of the eight countries that founded the Arctic Council – Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden and the USA – has published at least one major policy document on the topic, as has the European Union as an institution. Often called Arctic ‘strategies’, these documents address a wide range of issues in the economic, environmental, and institutional fields as well as more basic issues of safety and sovereignty. This publication Strategy Papers on the Arctic or High North: A Comparative study and Analysis by Alyson JK Bailes, Adjunct Professor at the University of Iceland, and Lassi Heininen, Assistant Professor at the University in Rovaniemi, is also available in hard copy at the institute.
