The Polar North is known to be home to large gas and oil reserves and its positionholds signifi cant trading and military advantages, yet the maritime boundaries of the region remain ill-defined. In the twenty-first century the Arctic is undergoing profound change. As the sea ice melts, a result of accelerating climate change, global governance has become vital.
In this first of three volumes, the latest research and analysis from the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, the world's leading Arctic research body, is brought together. Arctic Governance: Law and Politics investigates the legal and political order of the Polar North, focusing on governance structures and the Law of the Sea. Are the current mechanisms at work effective? Are the Arctic states' interests really clashing, or is the atmosphere of a more cooperative nature? Skilfully delineating policy in the region and analysing the consequences of treaty agreements, Arctic Governance's uncovering of a rather orderly 'Arctic race' will become an indispensable contribution to contemporary International Relations concerning the Polar North.

Geir Honneland is Research Director at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute - one of the world's leading Arctic research bodies - and Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the Arctic University in Tromso, Norway. He has published widely in English on territory disputes and environmental factors in the Polar North. He gained his PhD from the University of Oslo in 2000 and is one of the most respected commentators in the field of Arctic Studies. Svein Vigeland Rottem is Director of the Polar Research Programme at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute. He received his PhD in Arctic Political Science from the Arctic University at Tromso.Ida Folkestad Soltvedt is Researcher in Polar Law at the Fridtjdof Nansen Institute.