Institutions and Transboundary Governance Capacity (TGC) in the Arctic

Insights from the TGC Framework

Abstract

Whereas many of the articles in this volume test the Transboundary Governance Capacity
(TGC) framework in the context of the Laurentian Great Lakes, this article applies this
framework to the Arctic. By doing so, it fills in gaps of prior scholarship on Arctic governance while
also developing some of the core insights of VanNijnatten et al., 2016. After providing background
on the Arctic and discussing some of the most significant transboundary institutions in
the region, this article evaluates these institutions using the indicators of compliance, functional
intensity, stability and resilience, and legitimacy. It concludes that the TGC framework provides
keen insights into the broad mosaic that constitutes the Arctic transboundary governance system.
Importantly, it also suggests that a network of actors that operate simultaneously may in fact be
the best barometer of capacity in these complex systems.