Multinational corporations in the arctic: From colonial-era chartered companies to contemporary co-management and collaborative governance

Abstract

An imperial crossroads of global-and in particular, economic-importance for centuries, the Western Arctic region remains largely underdeveloped as compared to other such crossroads of empire. It’s a vast region spanning two countries, encompassing one state and two territories that converge along a boundary once separating two global empires, Russia’s and Britain’s, at the zenith of their territorial breadth-until the sale of Russian-America to the United States. The Western Arctic’s relative underdevelopment has resulted in a relatively light influx of settlers, despite-indeed, one might argue, because of-the active role of the world’s first multinational corporations (MNCs), the crown-chartered companies of the colonial era like the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), leaving the indigenous peoples of the region with a substantial and sustained demographic majority that has contributed to their recent, and historic, re-empowerment.