Governing property rights and extractivism in the Nordics under the European Union's Critical Raw Materials Act

The Nordic countries significant deposits of raw materials are becoming increasingly attractive to extract fueled by growing global demand, geopolitical pressures and increasing market volatility. Yet mining faces a growing number of legal disputes driven by social, economic and environmental concerns. Property-rights theory offers a framework for understanding how hierarchies of rightsholders contributes to environmental conflicts. By applying a macro-level (EU policy), meso‑level (national mining strategies), and micro-level (conflicts involving Indigenous rights) perspective, this paper analyses how high-level objectives are translated into national strategies and their potential impacts on local actors. The paper contributes to existing research by connecting literature on the evolution of property rights, Extractivism and resistance to mining in Sweden, Norway and Finland. It shows that supreme court rulings regarding Girjas (2020), Vetsijoki river (2022) and Karasjok (2024) points to a fragmented legal landscape, where the Sámi can sometimes be considered as proprietors in Sweden, but only authorized users in Norway and Finland. This indicates that the slow degradation of second order property rights which began in the 18th century as part of state building processes, create vulnerabilities which indigenous communities currently are trying to mitigate through court action. The results are important to avoid expansion of legal disputes tied to the Critical Raw Materials Act and national mining policies.