The Third Pole process : to what extent is the Arctic Council model suitable for replication in the Third Pole region?

Abstract

The Arctic Circle and the United Arab Emirates recently launched the Third Pole process in line with the Arctic Council model which facilitates cooperation among the eight Arctic states, permanent participants, and observers. The Arctic Council promotes a science and policy collaboration in supporting the regional governance of the Arctic region. The Arctic Council model is planned to be introduced in the Third Pole-Himalayan region which is home to several glaciers, rivers, high mountainous regions, disputed borders, nuclear-armed nations, and millions of people cutting across different states. This thesis examines the extent to which the Arctic model of cooperation can be replicated in the Third Pole Himalayan region. It discusses the geopolitical complexities of the region and the available regional governance mechanisms to understand how the existing cooperations can function as a model of cooperation and to what extent the Arctic Council model can contribute to the existing regional governance mechanisms. The thesis discusses how the Arctic Council was created, its background, and its functioning until the recent ‘pause’ due to the Russian attack on Ukraine to understand the suitability of the model in the Third Pole context. As most of the states in the Third Pole region have been subjected to European colonization for over two centuries, the thesis uses tools from decolonial theory to evaluate the topic. A comparative analysis is made between the Arctic and the Third Pole states and the regional cooperation models to understand if and how the Arctic model of cooperation might be transposed in the Third Pole region and if so to what extent such a model could be absorbed by the region. Amongst the existing cooperation models in the Third Pole-Himalayan region, BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for the Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) is found to be a suitable model of cooperation. While some of the lessons learned from the Arctic Council could be useful to bring about structural changes and to increase the efficiency of the functioning of the regional organization’s structure, there is also a need to adopt a pluriversal approach and not a diffusionist model of transplanting knowledge from the ‘Bright zone’ of Global North to Global South.