International legal status of the Arctic Region and its role within modern system of international relations

Abstract

This article examines the image of the Arctic Region as a large geopolitical actor with clear division of the zone of political influence of modern countries. The article reviews the negative aspects of lobbying for the interests of separate countries, which impact situation in the region, as well as negative consequences substantiated by the absence of standardized international legislative regulation of security regime and presence of external actors in the region. Within the framework of this study, the authors carried out a legal and economic analysis of the current geopolitical situation, as well as existing aspects of normative regulation of this branch in the region, as well as concluded on the possibility of joint development of the bottom of the Arctic shelf and realization of projects in the sphere of natural resource management of the Arctic Region. The scientific novelty consists in a brief, but in-depth substantiation of typical characteristics of the current system of international relations, as well as in the complex analysis of significance of the Arctic region on the agenda of world politics, and determination of “Arctic policy” as a separate vector in strategy of the leading countries of the world. The authors consider legal characteristics and existing approaches towards determination of legal status of the Arctic territories, which vary in different political-legal traditions. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 is the framework document that serves as the basis of national justification of claims in the Arctic Region. The main conclusion consists in the description of the existing conflict of laws, which can be overcome successfully only in terms of mutual, joint, fruitful cooperation of the key political actors that are involved or have political aspirations in the Arctic Region.