256
Arctic Yearbook 2015
states’ interests, the success of bargaining and institution’s regular functioning depends many times on
the chair’s personal skills to formulate issues in the fashion agreeable to all parties, to overcome
impediments and finding common grounds to proceed. Conceivably, for example, the success of
Icelandic chairmanship (2002-2004) drew upon the commitment and dedication of Icelandic SAO
chair, Mr. Gunnar Pálsson (Fenge 2013).
Impact of domestic politics and international developments
As states construct institutions to advance their goals and support their interests, those institutions
become a part of a broader matrix of national and foreign policies of their members, oftentimes
influenced as much by changes at the domestic level as in the external environment. Similarly, the
approach taken towards the Arctic Council as well as countries’ proposed objectives reflect larger
national and foreign policy interests of eight Arctic st