EU's Policies And Practices On The Governance Of Arctic Shippinq Route

It is worldly recognized that global warming has accelerated ice melting in the Arctic region.The process,however,has paved the way for the development of Arctic shipping route.As one of the key parts the regional governance,the governance of Arctic shipping route has played an important role in facilitating environmental protection,shipping,energy exploitation,fishery,tourism and other areas in the Arctic region,making it a hotspot in the international agenda.One distinctive player,as a newcomer,has exerted more and more influence over the process of Arctic shipping route governance—The European Union(The EU).Current studies mainly focus on EU's integrated Arctic strategy,but rare exclusively on the governance of shipping route,which is where this study dwells upon.This study would be an creative academic supplementation for the current Arctic research.Meanwhile,it would also provide a new perspective in understanding EU's foreign policy.This study intends to analyze the policy objectives and practices of EU in joining in the governance of Arctic shipping route through official policy interpretation and case research.Based on the analysis,the study would then summarize the characteristics and challenges of EU's governing the arctic shipping route.Hence this dissertation would be divided into five parts:the first is introduction,including the background,current research status,contents,etc;the second part states the current status of the governance of Arctic shipping route and EU's interests on it under the theoretical framework of Global Governance and Regional Governance;the third mainly sorts out EU's policy objectives on governing the Arctic shipping route by loolking into the EU's official policies;the fourth elaborates practices of these policies and the characteristics of these activities;the final part focuses on challenges that EU faces when taking part in Arctic shipping route governance.The analysis of this study shows that the Arctic shipping route has vital commercial and strategic values for the EU.Hence from 2008,EU has formulated a series of policies to guide its activities in this area.For shipping route governance,EU believes that the world should promote the freedom of navigation and support the right of innocent passage under the international maritime law system,and EU attaches great importance to environmental protection of shipping activities and is eager to build its technological advantage in this field.Under these objectives,EU has implemented comprehensive diplomatic activities regarding shipping route governance:seeking political legitimacy of identity for Arctic issues;calling for global governance in this area;providing related public goods;accumulating and implementing related knowledge and technology;taking charge of certain agendas with its ability of building political mechanisms.These activities have three distinctive features:diversifying in organizations and departments involved;multi-level and multi-field practices;the idea of green development.But in the meantime,EU still faces several challenges in joining the governance of Arctic Route,including lack of legitimate rights in meddling Arctic issues,legal disputes in shipping route ownership and internal strategic discrepancies among EU members.All in all,EU had made great achievements in the governance of Arctic Shipping route and its idea of green development is widely accepted and will become the wave of the future.Looking forward,EU will continue to be a major player in Arctic area by promoting green development and global engagement.Global governance,legal governance and green governance will become the major features of future development in Arctic shipping.