Indigenous diplomats at the IMO: a case study in successful cross-scale governance for international shipping traffic in the Bering Strait

Abstract

Rapid changes of socio-economic, climatic, and environmental conditions in the Bering Strait region are concurrent to an increase in the participation of multiple actors with diverse and sometimes conflicting priorities. Within theories of the policy process, the Advocacy Coalition Theory describes the ways in which advocates shape policy ideas through coalition-building with other policy actors in particular issue areas. Cross-scale governance is defined in our chapter as a way that governments, groups, coalitions, and individuals at one geographical and jurisdictional scale interact with others at adjacent scales steer governance of an issue area. Key drivers of an industrialized shipping seaway through the Bering Strait depend on several sets of factors tied to both social and environmental developments that are themselves intertwined. According to an array of accounts, maritime traffic is increasing in the Northwest Passage, the Northern Sea Route, and the Bering Sea and Strait.