NATO’s Securitization of Climate Change in the Arctic

Abstract

This study analyzes how and why the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) securitizes climate change in the Arctic. The study acknowledges that climate change has not only endangered the environmental security of the Arctic but has also intensified geopolitical competition over the region’s resources and trade routes as a threat multiplier. Regarding the impact of the changing structure of the region from the “cooperation front” to the “competition area”, the study reveals that NATO considers climate change as a part of the collective defense dimension of its organizational identity, along with increasing geopolitical competition, to develop a holistic approach in its Arctic policy. Drawing on the Copenhagen School and social constructivism, the study presents that NATO resorts to securitization discourses that concretize the threat in order to address climate change within the scope of its organizational identity.