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In February 2023, protests erupted in Olso in response to 500 days of inaction by the Norwegian state following the country's Supreme Court rulings regarding the Fosen wind farm project. Though the events of this case remain ongoing, Fosen has been compared in scope to the Alta conflict in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which is considered one of the most significant events in recent Sámi-state relations in Norway. This article takes that comparison as a baseline question and compares both cases as critical junctures, or, in the case of Fosen, the potential thereof. Making use of an adaption of Hillel David Soifer’s model of critical juncture operative conditions, the underlying factors of each case are examined to determine how such politically charged moments come about and what alternative institutional regimes were proposed during these critical pivot points. As this paper discusses, the comparisons between Alta and Fosen are apt, though the material conditions differ substantially. Rather, the ongoing Fosen case highlights the growing conflict between a well-established Indigenous rights regime and green energy policies that risk the tarnishing of the legacy that the events of Alta helped establish.

The Saami Council, founded in 1956, is one of the oldest Indigenous-led international organisations in the world. Despite this, its role and place on the world stage have been seldom examined, as has the place of internationally facing Indigenous Peoples' Organisations more broadly. Using the organisation's historical documents, among other sources, this article constructs a historic case study of the Saami Council from its founding in 1956 until the year 2000 to examine how it has evolved during this period and to better understand its standing within the greater international community. As the study discusses, since its inception, the organisation has evolved into an example of an Indigenous-led diplomatic organisation-one that came about through the changing political climate of the 1970s and solidified in the late 1990s. This evolution has implications for how we understand Indigenous-led advocacy and the role of non-state actors in international relations.

Since 1993, the Sámi have been the only recognized Indigenous people within the European Union. However, their official engagement with European politics has been limited. This has recently begun to change as the EU’s ongoing Arctic pivot has made Sámi political actors more prominent in Brussels. Using the English School approach, this case study traces the evolution of Sámi–EU relations from the early 1990s to the present to explore and analyse the mechanisms of engagement that Indigenous political actors utilised to gain access to high-level decision-making and what the EU itself should hope to gain through stronger ties with this Indigenous people. The analysis of these events reveals a clear and growing political relationship between the Sámi and the EU. However, shifting political conditions and the absence of a formal European-level framework for Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, which currently exists for external partners, constrain the potential for more stable and equitable relations. Moreover, with the state of Arctic politics being in flux, this lack of policy coherence in regard to an internal Indigenous people could undermine the EU’s claims of legitimacy within the region.

In 2019, the European Union first introduced its pathway towards a net-zero future. Titled the ‘European Green Deal’, this series of policy initiatives aims to make Europe climate neutral in a bid to limit climate change. The goal is ambitious and requires wide-reaching changes across the union, with a clear pivot away from fossil fuels towards clean energy. It is in this context that in the Fall of 2021 the EU also released its revised Arctic Policy. Building on the Union’s previous Arctic strategy released in 2016, this new policy was clearly designed to achieve the targets set by the Green Deal, with sustainability and clean energy taking priority. Yet where this document falls short is in considering the implications of a changing energy environment on the indigenous people of northern Fenno-Scandia. Known as the Sami, they have raised concern with how these new green goals will demand greater use of their lands for hydroelectric and wind-based energy projects, which will only further threaten their traditional livelihoods. Can a green transition occur while still respecting the rights and lands of indigenous groups? That is the question this article will intend to answer by providing an overview of both policies and the strain they put on the European Union’s only recognized indigenous group.

After nearly thirty years of Sámi integration in the European Union, the Sámi still receive fewer EU Indigenous rights than their external counterparts.