For some three centuries, the Arctic region has been a zone of collaborative governance. The interests of diverse sovereign states, indigenous peoples, NGOs, and other stakeholders have been aligned—even during periods of global conflict. Now, however, these consensus-based foundations are being tested.

In Arctic Exceptionalism, Barry Scott Zellen considers: What explains the enduring cooperation in the region? Will new international dynamics upend the consensual approach? Could the intensifying nationalism across the Inuit homeland likewise endanger it? Zellen traces the region's long diplomatic history to show how competing interests have managed to establish an enduring stable order, and how escalating state rivalries and renewed nationalism are likely to affect it.

Barry Scott Zellen is research scholar in the Department of Geography at the University of Connecticut.