Introduction: indigenous self-governance in the Arctic States

Abstract

The theme of this special issue is indigenous self-governance in Arctic states. A common characteristic of the states that are partly located in the Arctic – Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, USA – is that they all have indigenous peoples, and all have some form of self-government. There has been relatively little research on the similarities and differences between the sub-state autonomy structures within the Arctic states from a political science perspective (although with important exceptions, see below). This is somewhat surprising given the growing interest in the Arctic region during the last 15 years, where some of these autonomous units play an increasingly important role. This special issue asks how different are these self-governing units? How did they evolve into their current form? Do they have a distinct Arctic indigenous character?