Bazaar governance: Situating the Artic Circle

In April 2013, Iceland launched a new international assembly for the Arctic, to be known as the ‘Arctic Circle’. This chapter traces the emergence of the Arctic Circle assembly, and introduces the idea that less institutionalised forums such as these serve an important function in the Arctic governance system as a ‘bazaar’ for the exchange of global and marginalised knowledge, ideas and interests that could influence the Arctic governance regime from within. To underline their arguments, the authors draw on rich empirical material from the Arctic Circle meeting in October 2014.