Looking North of Vienna: The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe as a Facilitator of Arctic Security

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (2-4) ◽  
pp. 350-373
Author(s):  
Paul André Narvestad
Keyword(s):  
International Organization ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Security Environment ◽  
Arctic Security ◽  
Military Activity

Though the Arctic is known as a region of peace, military activity and militarization continue to influence it. The literature on Arctic security asserts that no international organization exists that can deal with military issues in the region. This article challenges this assertion by arguing that the osce is the perfect organization to coordinate Arctic security because of its initial purpose of facilitating nato-Russia relations in Europe, which is precisely the same relationship that requires coordination in the Arctic today. Given that all eight Arctic states are members, the osce is almost a pre-existing security organization for the Arctic. The article examines the security environment in the Arctic, the current institutional regime and the origins of the osce. Furthermore, it explores osce csbms as empirical examples of how the osce already builds military predictability in the Arctic.

scholarly journals NATO and Arctic security: Challenges, Opportunities and Prospects

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 92-96
Author(s):  
V. I. Glotov ◽  
I. A. Arzhanov
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Current Policy ◽  
Far North ◽  
The North ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
Arctic Security ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
Military Activity ◽  
Global Agenda

In this article, the authors analyse the current policy of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) in the Arctic . The article emphasises that the new challenges in the Arctic, related to climate change, the participation of non-Arctic states in the development of the territory and the growth of Russia’s military activity, have put before NATO the question of forming a task and official strategy . So far, member states have not reached consensus in this direction . The article identifies the main steps of the Alliance, which confirm the thesis about the growth of tension in the Far North . We identified the factors that may affect the prospects of the Alliance in the region . Taking into account the fact that the Arctic in contemporary circumstances has entered the global agenda of international politics, the authors conclude the growth of NATO activity, as evidenced by the practical steps of the organisation . Little attention has been paid to this in official documents, although the importance of cooperation in the region has already been stressed .

Arctic Security – Global Dimensions and Challenges, and National Policy Responses

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lassi Heininen
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Political Competition ◽  
International System ◽  
National Policy ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Security Environment ◽  
The People ◽  
Military Presence ◽  
Arctic Security

Abstract Stability and decrease of military tension are relevant in the new Northern order which replaced the confrontation of the Cold War period. This was a conscious choice by the Arctic states. In the international system with constant regional wars and the fight against terrorism this is an achievement – it would be possible to have another kind of order. In the 2010s this order is in a test, when the Arctic and its natural resources, as well as options to them, have become a target of growing global interest. The ongoing multifunctional change and geopolitical shift from a periphery into global has also meant changes in Arctic security environment and governance: Stability is not threatened by the military presence and the deployed nuclear weapon systems but more by rapid climate change and its environmental and socio-economic impacts. Everyday security of the people is threatened. Energy security has become a new discourse of Northern security. The strategic position of the region’s natural resources may create new tension, and economic and political competition. Followed from this, and concentrating on Arctic security, there are new dimensions and challenges, which require new and more global political responses. This article opens with a brief, theoretical discussion on how security is (re)defined, and how different security concepts are implemented. Second, it describes and defines a state of Arctic security by using three methods. Finally, the article studies and discusses national strategies and policies of the Arctic states regarding how they (re)define security and respond to the global and regional security challenges.

scholarly journals A New (Cold) Front in Polar Intelligence? Trends and Implications of Technology-Enabled Monitoring in the Arctic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Urban
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Monitoring Strategies ◽  
Arctic Security ◽  
Military Activity ◽  
The Cold War

The Arctic has gained increasing attention from defense and intelligence policymakers concerned about great power conflict in the High North. United States-Russian competition in the region over polar shipping routes and natural resources seemingly contradicts institutional commitments to retain the Arctic as a “low tension zone.” Superpowers and their allies are receiving international condemnation for advancing kinetic military activity in the region while constituents and interest groups are instead advocating for diplomacy and cooperative restraint. As a result, Arctic nations are turning towards extensive reconnaissance and monitoring of the region to deter conflict. This study draws on strategy documents from each of the eight Arctic nations, scholarly research, and news coverage to assemble a picture of current efforts at technology-enabled monitoring. It also examines the potential of technologies such as long-range surveillance drones, satellites, and seabed monitors to facilitate near-constant reconnaissance by polar powers. The current deterrence mindset of Arctic security postures bears comparison with Cold War-era efforts to prevent outright conflict via monitoring and mitigation strategies. This study provides a historic account of Arctic intelligence in the 20th century and uses a comparative approach to assess what aspects of the contemporary situation are genuinely new and which may benefit from lessons of the Cold War. It concludes with policy recommendations for Arctic states to implement cohesive northern monitoring strategies into their intelligence organizations as well as long-term guidelines for new multilateral fora focused explicitly on Arctic security issues.

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

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Soazic Dacal
Keyword(s):  
Personal Experience ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Global Challenge ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The World ◽  
Arctic Security ◽  
Local Parameters

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.

Descriptive Statistics and Cross-National Comparisons of Arctic Power Projection

2020 ◽  
pp. 56-80
Author(s):  
Jonathan N. Markowitz
Keyword(s):  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Military Force ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Power Projection ◽  
Resource Rents ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Military Activity ◽  
Events Data

Chapter 4 employs data from three new data sets, the Arctic Military Activity Events Data Set, the Arctic Bases Data Set, and the Icebreaker and Ice-Hardened Warships Data Set. These new data enable a systematic comparison of each state’s Arctic military forces and deployments before and after the 2007 climate shock. The data offer a corrective to both sensationalist media accounts that suggest that all states are scrambling to fight over Arctic resources and those who downplay real changes in states’ Arctic military capabilities and presence. Confirming Rent-Addition’s Theory’s predictions, the descriptive statistical comparisons reveal that the states that were most economically dependent on resource rents, Norway and Russia, were the most willing to back their claims by projecting military force to disputed areas and investing in Arctic bases, ice-hardened warships, and icebreakers.

STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITIES OF DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN THE ARCTIC

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-119
Author(s):  
Медведев ◽  
Dmitriy Medvedev
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Political Development ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Security Dilemma ◽  
Security Environment ◽  
Political Cooperation ◽  
Long Term Trends ◽  
Development Prospects ◽  
Foreign Policy Strategies

The article describes the long-term trends in the development of international relations in the Arctic, the strategic importance of the region in modern international relations is proved. By analyzing the foreign policy strategies of the polar states the possible directions of international cooperation are formulated, threats to the development of constructive cooperation in the region are identified. The trends and key integration structures of military and political cooperation in the region are described, for the study of development prospects of the situation the concept of «security dilemma» is applied. The author describes the conditions necessary to reduce the tension in the region and the establishment of a non-confrontational model of world political development in the Arctic. In particular, the recognition of insolvency of isolation policy, as well as the rejection of the fragmentation of international security environment in the Arctic will allow to overcome the destructive tendencies of development and increase the possibility to maintain a mutually acceptable dialogue.

Alicia Cate

2017 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 287-288
Author(s):  
Alicia Cate
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
International Organization ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Civil Society Organization ◽  
The Future ◽  
Speak Up

Hi. Alicia Cate with Oceana, the world's largest international organization to protect the oceans. I would like to just make one brief comment, which is that Oceana was very successful as a civil society organization to change the Obama administration's views on drilling in the Atlantic and the Arctic, and that is once again a prospect for the future with this administration. It is incredibly important that we all speak up, every single one of us, because we all should be at that march. It is on April 29. Oceana is helping to organize the People's Climate March. Please be there.

Arctic Security, Territory, Population: Canadian Sovereignty and the International

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 358-374
Author(s):  
Mark B Salter
Keyword(s):  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Canadian High Arctic ◽  
Territorial Sovereignty ◽  
Arctic Security ◽  
Simultaneous Implementation ◽  
Blind Spots

Abstract Canada's policies to assert and maintain sovereignty over the High Arctic illuminate both the analytical leverage and blind spots of Foucault's influential Security, Territory, Population (2007) schema for understanding modern governmentality. Governmental logics of security, sovereignty, and biopolitics are contemporaneous and concomitant. The Arctic case demonstrates clearly that the Canadian state messily uses whatever governmental tools are in its grasp to manage the Inuit and claim territorial sovereignty over the High North. But, the case of Canadian High Arctic policies also illustrates the limitations of Foucault's schema. First, the Security, Territory, Population framework has no theorization of the international. In this article I show the simultaneous implementation of Canadian security-, territorial-, and population-oriented policies over the High Arctic. Next, I present the international catalysts that prompt and condition these polices and their specifically settler-colonial tenor. Finally, in line with the Foucauldian imperative to support the “resurrection of subjugated knowledges” (Foucault 2003, 7), I conclude by offering some of the Inuit ways of resisting and reshaping these policies, proving how the Inuit shaped Canadian Arctic sovereignty as much as Canadian Arctic sovereignty policies shaped the Inuit.

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