Arctic research comes in from the cold
How SAMPOL is on the frontier of polar political science
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The High North, long considered peripheral to the study of politics, is now a geopolitical hot spot, due to climate change, Arctic sovereignty, demand for remote resources, new transportation routes, militarization, and Indigenous 鈥渄ecolonization.鈥� Academia is taking note and turning north 鈥� and the Department of Comparative Politics (SAMPOL) is in the lead.
For five years, SAMPOL has been home to the international research group聽Indigenous People聽and Governance in the Arctic,听exploring聽international, domestic, and regional聽polar politics through a comparative lens.聽Led by professor Per Selle, along with professor Kristin Str酶msnes, lecturer Aaron Spitzer, and stipendiat Elin Monstad, the group has found itself at the forefront of a dynamic field of study.
鈥撀燭he High North is like a laboratory of political science,听says Selle and continues:聽
鈥撀燭here, state-making is not history but rather current events, happening right in front of our eyes. It鈥檚 such a salient, exciting place to do research.
The group鈥檚 achievements have been noteworthy.聽They have published nearly a dozen scholarly articles, in journals such as聽Postcolonial 大象传媒,听Canadian Journal of Political Science, International Journal of Minority and Group Rights, and, just this month, the聽Journal of International Political Theory. They have furthermore published two books, including the just-released聽, exploring achievements and controversies in the governance of Sami land.聽
The group鈥檚 undertakings have been earning attention. This month UiB, through its Nansen Initiative to foreground High North research, awarded Selle NOK 200,000 for his research project 鈥淎 Sami land-claims settlement?鈥� At the same time, the multidisciplinary project 鈥�Visions of the Arctic,鈥� based at UiB鈥檚 Faulty of Humanities and with Str酶msnes among the principal investigators, won NOK 195,000.
That was not the only good news for聽Str酶msnes and UiB.聽This month, the Norwegian Research Council advanced 鈥淰isions of the Arctic鈥� to its final round of consideration for a 2022 Centre of Excellence award, which would give the project funding of up to NOK 20 million annually for 10 years.聽聽
SAMPOL鈥檚 Arctic researchers also remain committed to sharing polar knowledge with students, peers, and the public. In the past five years, Spitzer and Selle have developed and delivered two聽new courses, the B.A.-level聽SAMPOL 203: Comparative Arctic Indigenous Governance, and the M.A.-level聽SAMPOL 323: Nye styringsformer i nordomr氓da.
As well, with聽collaborators at the universities of Troms酶, Stockholm, Lapland, Montreal, Laval, and Northern British Columbia, they have聽hosted conference sessions and presented at workshops, seminars and conferences in Canada, Sweden, and Norway 鈥� including in the northern communities of Bod酶, Troms酶, and Longyearbyen.聽
Moreover, they have been active in disseminating knowledge to the broader community, for example publishing plain-language commentaries in newspapers such as聽狈辞谤诲濒测蝉听补苍诲听Bergens Tidende.