The myths of Svalbard geopolitics: An Arctic case study

Abstract

The Arctic has become a victim of popularised geopolitical analyses. Common conceptions of ‘geopolitical rivalry’ being caused or even accelerated by sea ice melting are too simplistic. They under-estimate the complexity of the political and legal dynamics at play and over-estimate the explanatory power of geophysical change. Instead, we must examine the specific cases of geopolitics in the North. One such location is the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. Misconceptions and myths also concerning this archipelago abound in popular media and some academic scholarship – regarding everything from sovereignty disputes to its legal and military status. Such misconceptions are intertwined with the actual geopolitical issues that concern Svalbard or stem from different interpretations of the Svalbard Treaty from 1920. These include the (1) explicit challenges to Norwegian policies on land; the (2) disagreement over the geographic extension of the Svalbard Treaty to the archipelago’s maritime zones; and (3) the potential military use of Svalbard in a larger conflict with Russia. This article examines the geopolitical aspects of this Norwegian Arctic archipelago, in order to provide greater accuracy to the growing popular and academic discussion about Svalbard and the wider Arctic.