Sámi-EU relations

Abstract

In a globalised world, a people’s self-determination is not primarily affected by policy-making in the national context but largely also by decisions made at the transnational level. Understanding self-determination as a human right and underlining the interdependencies between self-determination and participation, hence, 1) assuring self-determination is not only in the hands of the nation-states and 2) dealing with questions of participation is thus not only an issue to be solved at the national level. These circumstances hold also true for the case of the Sámi people as the only Indigenous people within the EU and policy-making at the level of the European Union (EU): EU policies are impacting Sámi livelihoods and not only the EU Member States but the EU itself has signed international standards on the rights of Indigenous peoples. Although both criteria, affectedness and the right to self-determination, would argue for Sámi participation at the EU level, I identify participation gaps in the analysis of the type of access Sámi organisation have to EU policy-making. Based on a qualitative case study design, I analyse different forms of participation and formalisation as well as their processes within Sámi-EU relations to address my research questions ‘To what extent and how do Sámi-EU relations enable Sámi participation in EU policy-making?’ With view to the population of cases of Indigenous peoples’ participation in transnational policy-making, I also draw broader conclusions beyond the case of Sámi-EU relations.