China’s ascent in global governance and the Arctic

Abstract

The paper explains the tendencies of China’s Arctic policy by locating them in general patterns of China’s uneven rise in global governance across many subject areas. Among the four major pathways of China’s enhanced participation in global governance, the Arctic case is best explained by the ‘push in’ pathway, where a significant increase of lobbying and activities of engagement can be found. The paper highlights that the Arctic is an issue area where China will experiment with new tactics to exert influence on the reform of existing multilateral institutions and to promote its own normative principles for global governance. Refs 33. Table 1.