The Pandemic, the Arctic and Me: A Levels of Analysis Discussion of Arctic Security Focusing on the 2020 Global Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic hit the world during the winter 2020. Still on-going, it impacts everyone’s everyday life on a great scale. While the pandemic is considered as a global challenge, it has particular effects in the Arctic due to local parameters, such as remoteness, need of communication, other health challenges, presence of indigenous communities, etc. Using the author’s personal experience as a starting point, this paper aims to provide a broad and objective analysis in order to identify and discuss major stakes of the pandemic as well as the opportunities it provides.

Sustainable Development of Arctic Oil and Gas: Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Benefit-Sharing.

How would you feel if foreigners encroached on your natural resources for commercial exploitation without your consent and had no agreement with you regarding the sharing of benefits generated from its use? This is the case for vulnerable Arctic populations and Indigenous peoples. The Arctic is known as a vast storehouse of potential resources. Oil …

The Greenlandic Question: An International Relations Analysis of a Post-Independence Inuit Nation

Greenland is a sub-national jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Denmark, yet holds a special position within due to the Self-Rule Act of 2009. For decades, Greenlandic politicians have clamored for independence in various ways. This article explores through an International Relations Theory lens as to the schools and modes of IR that Greenland has used in the past in order to predict how an independent Greenland may act in the future. By exploring these theories, the paper shines light on which theories and strategies may be best for Greenlanders.

The Legal Protection of Sea Ice Areas and the Triple Bottom Line Approach to Mining Management in the Arctic

2020 is the year when 40% of the 4,000-year-old Milne Ice Shelf, located on the north-western edge of Ellesmere Island, caved into the sea. 2020 is the year when the Greenland Ice Sheet has already passed the point of no return. 2020 is the year when human presence in the Arctic Ocean fell dramatically due …

Climate Change and Mental Health: A Snapshot of Arctic Indigenous People’s Resiliency and Suffering as the World Transforms

For years, the Arctic region, home to 4 million people, ten percent of whom are indigenous, has provided an example of rapidly changing climate patterns impinging on human ability to adapt to the change (Arctic Centre, University of Lapland). The Circumpolar region has experienced warming at a rate roughly two to three times greater than …

Singapore and the Arctic: Is the Gibraltar of the East Going to Materialize its Geopolitical Ambitions?

The Arctic is becoming the new place to be for states, companies and academics, as the ice retreat is uncovering new strategic and geopolitical stakes. Arctic sates have already updated their Arctic policies, including their geopolitical stakes and Asian states with an Observer status to the Arctic Council are following the trend, but few of them don’t have an Arctic policy yet, Singapore being one of them. Highly participative within the Arctic Council’s working groups and building a strong cooperation, Singapore still remains mysterious in its approach. Then, what are the Gibraltar of the East’s geopolitical ambitions in the Arctic?

Glacial Water Melt in Greenland: Resource for the Future

Introduction Research into the cause and effect of increased thawing in permafrost areas and rising sea level has led to the conclusion that without extensive decrease in carbon emissions, future generations may be presented with severely different global conditions (IPCC, n.d.). This condition could make populated areas uninhabitable and leave others with limited possibilities for …

Geopolitics, Indigenous Peoples, and the Polar Thaw: Sub- and Transnational Fault Lines of the Coming Arctic Cold War

This article examines the current geopolitical transformation of the Arctic region in response to the interplay of rising great power competition (GPC), the institutional empowerment of Arctic indigenous peoples in domestic and international governing bodies, and the continued polar thaw – issues traditionally discussed separately or in pairs, but not generally all together. It applies classical geopolitical theory to the warming Arctic, finding that the fundamental relationships of Heartland to Rimland, and the isolating buffer of what Mackinder called Lenaland, are in a state of flux, and the once-isolated island chains that dominate the physical geography of the circumpolar Arctic are gaining increasing salience to global security, and must not be overlooked. It examines the political geography of the Arctic and the fundamental importance of its indigenous human terrain, where a future Cold War will either be won or lost.

Understanding the Role of Arctic States, Non-Arctic States and Indigenous Peoples in Arctic Affairs Through the Lens of International Relations Theories

The Arctic is slowly opening to the world due to the ice retreat. The regional concept of unreachable lands, seas and ice is disappearing, leading the Arctic States to assert sovereignty over their respective Arctic territory in order to secure Arctic resources. However, Indigenous Peoples are concerned by these large-scale changes as their traditional land is changing, threatening their culture and existence. Finally, some non-Arctic States actively draft policies to express their intentions regarding the Arctic and its economic and strategic possibilities. In that sense, all stakeholders are adapting their conception of international relations to fit the new Arctic reality.

Climate Change, the Arctic and I

This article uses the constructivist political theory to explain individual, state and non-state actors’ relationships with a warming Arctic. At the individual level, constructivism explains why the author studies the Arctic, even though there is no apparent, rational interest to do so. At the State level, constructivism can explain the different behaviours adopted by the States towards the fast-warming Arctic, which constantly adapt to specific social context and norms. Finally, constructivism thus highlights that non-State actors play a substantial role in international relations, because they influence social norms and meanings.