About the project

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This project aims to examine the evolution and functioning of Indigenous governance across the circumpolar north. What’s happening now in the North will only become more important, yet knowledge about these processes remains limited. We want to study the big changes which are now happening in the circumpolar north, where climate change and technological innovations are making this vast area increasingly interesting, not only for international companies but also for nation states.

A crucial implication for this development is that a number of countries are now far more engage in the north, including countries that previously showed little interest in the area. The challenges are numerous and what direction political development will take is uncertain. A key question is how Indigenous people can affect these processes of change. We are developing a comparative Indigenous-governance study with emphasis on the Nordic countries and Canada. The research project is focusing on different aspects of Indigenous governance, including: self-government and self determination at the regional and local levels; Indigenous parliaments and other representative bodies at the national level; and international and pan-Arctic Indigenous governance bodies.

The project utilises a mixed-methods structure, combining qualitative document analysis with QCA and statistical analysis. A number of undergraduate and graduate courses are affiliated with the project:

SAMPOL203: Comparative Arctic Indigenous Governance is undergraduate course at the Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen, exploring the rapidly evolving field of Indigenous governance in the Nordic states and Canada.

SAMPOL 371: Arctic Politics is an M.A.-level course at the Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen, studying contemporary challenges in the North including climate change, resource extraction, militarization, and Indigenous (de)colonization.

SAMPOL323: Arctic Governance and the Role of Indigenous People is an M.A.-level course at the Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen, exploring how the Arctic Indigenous peoples take part in and influence processes of political change.

STV-2048: Comparative Arctic Indigenous Governance is an undergraduate course at the University of Tromsø – the Arctic University of Norway, exploring the rapidly evolving field of indigenous governance in the Nordic states and Canada.