LIST OF PANELS

Multi-level governance has become a popular tool for making sense of a variety of political phenomena in the European Union (Hooghe and Marks 2001, Peters and Pierre 2004) and to a lesser extent, in North America (Stein and Turkewitsch 2010, Papillon 2012, Alcantara and Nelles 2014, Rodon 2014). Part of the reason for why this concept has become so popular is because it neatly captures a new range of developments involving a multitude of actors from different levels, interacting in new ways to produce political decisions and policy outcomes.  Indeed, it is for these reasons that scholars have begun to turn to multi-level governance as a means of analyzing new developments in the Arctic region.  This part of the world has become a hotbed of experiments in multi-level governance processes and institutions, ranging from the emergence of new international (e.g. Arctic Council) and regional institutions (e.g. Barents Euro Arctic Council in Northern Europe), and new actors rooted in national, subnational, Aboriginal (e.g. Nunavut, Nunatsiavut, North Slope Borough, Russian Okrugs), and civil society levels (e.g environmental and business groups).  We are looking for papers focusing on the role of these new institutions, actors, and modes of governance in two increasingly important and relevant policy areas in the Arctic: security (encompassing a wide range of areas ranging from hard security to human security) and natural resource development. We will however consider other relevant policies areas   More specifically we wish to address the following questions What is the descriptive and explanatory capacity of Multi-level governance analysis in the Arctic context? What is the involvement and interaction of different actors from the local to the regional level? Does this context of multi-level governance in the Arctic produce coherent and/or relevant policies?

Description: Multi-level governance has become a popular tool for making sense of a variety of political phenomena in the European Union (Hooghe and Marks 2001, Peters and Pierre 2004) and to a lesser extent, in North America (Stein and Turkewitsch 2010, Papillon 2012, Alcantara and Nelles 2014, Rodon 2014). Part of the reason for why this concept has become so popular is because it neatly captures a new range of developments involving a multitude of actors from different levels, interacting in new ways to produce political decisions and policy outcomes.  Indeed, it is for these reasons that scholars have begun to turn to multi-level governance as a means of analyzing new developments in the Arctic region.  This part of the world has become a hotbed of experiments in multi-level governance processes and institutions, ranging from the emergence of new international (e.g. Arctic Council) and regional institutions (e.g. Barents Euro Arctic Council in Northern Europe), and new actors rooted in national, subnational, Aboriginal (e.g. Nunavut, Nunatsiavut, North Slope Borough, Russian Okrugs), and civil society levels (e.g environmental and business groups).  This panel will focus on the role of these new institutions, actors, and modes of governance in two increasingly important and relevant policy areas in the Arctic: security (encompassing a wide range of areas ranging from hard security to human security) and natural resource development. We will however consider other relevant policies areas   Objectives: Explore the descriptive and explanatory capacity of Multi-level governance analysis in the Arctic context Explore the involvement and interaction of different actors from the local to the regional level in different policymaking processes. Analyse policy coherence and relevance in the context of multi-level governance in the Arctic   Scientific relevance: Multi-level governance analysis is often criticized for its lack of explanatory power and its limited use outside the European context. This panel will explore the usefulness of this concept in the Arctic governance context.