Introduction: The Arctic as a Globally Embedded Space

This introductory chapter sets the stage for the edited volume and formulates a framework for analysing the governance of Arctic change in a global perspective. The chapter puts forward the argument that the Arctic, long treated as a pristine, peripheral and exceptional region, is a globally embedded space: it is subject to global impacts as well as Arctic regional processes have global ramifications. To better understand the complexity of contemporary Arctic governance, research has to analyse the dynamic interactions between four I’s: imaginaries on, interests in, institutions for and issues of the global Arctic.