The Importance of Northern Dimension Foreign Policies in the Geopolitics of the Circumpolar North

Abstract

The end of the Cold War dramatically altered geopolitical relationships within the circumpolar North. Part of this change involved the development of a regionalised governance structure stressing the common issues faced by human populations within the circumpolar North, regardless of their national or ethnic origins. Signatories to a cadre of new circumpolar agreements include eight nation-states or the “Arctic states” (Canada, USA, Russia, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland) as well as indigenous peoples organisations and supranational organisations such as the European Union. Equally important, although somewhat less tangible, is the fact that in addition to the new forms of international and regional governance now giving shape to an emerging circumpolar “northern” space, are several new discourses concerning the scale and nature of circumpolar regionalism and the critical new environmental, human security, and economic development challenges which it faces. Rather than using the rhetoric of tension and confrontation common throughout the Cold War era, these new northern discourses stress regional co-operation, human security and sustainable development. This paper examines the political structures and actors which give shape to emerging geopolitical versions of the international “North”. It explores the relationship between the new international geopolitical space of this circumpolar region and the northern dimension policies of constituent states, in order to identify links between the geopolitical consensus which has become the potential basis for the international structure and goals of governance within the circumpolar region. Particular emphasis is placed upon Canada, the USA and the European Union, where northern dimension policies are most developed.