Arctic Geopolitics

Course Description

The Arctic has reached an inflection point. Technology permits affordable resource extraction, and enables greater access to this remote region than was possible even a decade ago. As a result, several new dynamics have emerged in the international relations concerning the Arctic. Scientific study is revealing more about the Arctic ecosystem and its relation to global climate. Economic and Great Power competition is altering the calculus of Arctic and non-Arctic states, from North America to Europe and Eurasia – even China, Japan and the United Kingdom have asserted themselves in Arctic debates. As the Arctic becomes less remote, psychologically and geopolitically, past indifference is being replaced with new interests and imperatives. Yet the institutional arrangements governing the Arctic, from intrastate structures to give the region’s residents, especially aboriginal peoples, effective participation in decision making to nascent institutions such as the Arctic Council, are struggling to adapt to these changes. Exogenous shifts, such as to global energy prices, can marginalize or essentialize the Arctic quite suddenly with unsettling repercussions for residents and the international system alike. This course will unpack the inherent complexities of the Arctic region and explore how governments are addressing its potential domestically, cooperatively and in in competition or conflict.

Code

SA.503.163

Credits

4

Subject

Governance, Politics and Society