International Politics in the ArcticAltogether five books on Arctic politics are due for launch – all with FNI researchers as authors or editors, and all issued by leading global academic publishing houses:

* FNI Director Geir Hønneland’s International Politics in the Arctic: Contested Borders, Natural Resources and Russian Foreign Policy will be published 30 September by the London-based I.B. Tauris.

​​Arctic Governance: Law and Politics* Arctic Governance: Law and Politics, edited by FNI researchers Svein Vigeland Rottem and Ida Folkestad Soltvedt, will appear by the end of September, also under the I.B. Tauris imprint. This is the first in a series of three related volumes, all dealing with various aspects of Arctic development and Arctic governance.

* Geir Hønneland’s Arctic Euphoria and International High North Politics has Arctic Euphoria and International High North Polticsrecently been issued by the Singapore office of the global publishing house Palgrave Macmillan.

* A new paperback version of the Handbook on the Politics of the Arctic, edited by FNI senior researcher Leif Christian Jensen together with FNI Director Hønneland, originally published globally by Edward Elgar, will also be issued this month.

Handbook on the Politics of the Arctic* And  a new edition of Centre–Periphery Relations in Russia, authored by Hønneland and NUPI researcher Helge Blakkisrud, will be published as part of the series Routledge Revivals.

The first two works are also due to be translated and published in Chinese, as has been the case for several previous Arctic-related FNI books as well.

Key talking points

Svein Vigeland RottemSenior editor Tomasz Hoskins at I.B. Tauris sees FNI’s string of book publications as a strong testimony to FNI’s frontrunner position on Arctic governance research:

'The FNI's commitment to academic rigour and cutting-edge research is central to the world's understanding of issues affecting the polar world, issues which now affect us all. I.B.Tauris is delighted to be bringing this research to a wide audience around the globe in a series of exceptional books on the key talking points relating to the Arctic and beyond. We look forward to many more projects in tandem with the FNI in the future', says Hoskins.

Policy-relevant

Law and politics in the Polar Regions has been a main area of work for FNI for several decades. FNI Director, Geir Hønneland, has noted an interesting trend in recent years, however:

We've experienced an increasing interest in our publications on Arctic politics in various Asian countries, especially China and South Korea. We are currently negotiating with China’s most prestigious academic publishers on Chinese editions of our latest books'.

'I’m pleased that our work on the Arctic is considered relevant also outside academia –  as reflected, for instance, in a framework agreement on Arctic politics we have concluded with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as various projects we have with other ministries, and with non-governmental organizations in Norway and abroad', Hønneland adds. 

More to come

Lars RoweIn addition to the five books to appear this autumn, more Arctic-related books are in the pipeline, and will be published in the coming year. The next two books in the I.B. Tauris series on Arctic governance will be Energy, Living Marine Resources and Shipping and Norway, Russia and Asian States, both co-edited by Rottem and Soltvedt, with contributions from several FNI scholars.

Furthermore, Lars Rowe, Director of the FNI Russia Programme, will have two books on Russian politics in the Arctic, the first one next year, titled Arctic and the Environment. Senior FNI Researcher Pål Wilter Skedsmo will also publish The Russian State and the People: Power, Corruption and the Individual in Putin’s Russia, written together with Hønneland and Ilkka Pietilä, in the course of 2018.

Collaboration

Svein Vigeland Rottem, who until recently directed the FNI Polar Programme, is pleased with this strong publication line-up from Arctic and Polar researchers at FNI:

It shows that we have a solid and broadly based team of Arctic scholars. The I.B.Tauris book series involves contributions from all our researchers working on Arctic issues, and reflects the excellent collaborative spirit here at FNI.