Arctic Yearbook 2015 | Page 250

250 Arctic Yearbook 2015 the office of the chair are outlined above - is the critical factor, since it affects both the quality and quantity of the chair's resources as well as the formal and informal constraints. More specifically, what matters is the intervention capacity given to the chair (i.e. control over agenda management and brokerage) as well as institutional continuity and the duration of the chairmanship. In short, the greater the chair’s control over process, the more institutional continuity and the longer the duration of its tenure, the more effective the chair will be (Blavoukos et al. 2006: 152). When it comes to the resources available to the chair, these include the already mentioned asymmetrical access to information and legitimacy of the chairmanship office. With regard to formal constraints placed upon the chair, these include the mandate, decision-making rules and control mechanisms within the institution. The mandate – or, like in the case of the United Nations Security Council and the Arctic Council, rules of procedure – outline tasks and functions assigned to the chair, thus defining its intervention capacity. Again, the less detailed the mandate, the more the institutional autonomy of the chair. Similarly with decision-making rules, the more demanding the rule (for example special majority, unanimity or co