Arctic Security Research Articles

Evolution of Baltic Security: Analysis of Threats and Strategic Responses

This article explores the evolution of security in the Baltic region, focusing first on Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and analysing the key challenges posed by the Russian Federation since the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the subsequent security measures taken by NATO through the Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) mission. It details the strategic responses of the Baltic states, highlighting their military modernisation, defence cooperation with NATO and growing reliance on multinational exercises. The article also examines the role of Poland as a key player in NATO's eastern flank defence and the integration of Finland and Sweden into NATO, emphasising their contribution to strengthening the Baltic and Arctic security architecture. The analysis concludes with an examination of the multiple threats that characterise the region's security environment, underlining the importance of coherent multinational defence strategies.

The Shortest Nuclear Route to Climate Tipping Points to Great Power Competition: Tracing Arctic Security from the Cold War to Now

<p>Arctic security has been growing in popularity across academia, policymaking, and news media. However, this popularity has come with a notable question: what does Arctic security mean and what knowledge underpins it? This study traces the discourse on Arctic security from the Cold War to present examining the emergence of different types of security which range from more traditional variants to wider and deeper readings such as environmental and comprehensive security. I identify key strands of Arctic security discourse, trace their interaction over time, and periodize the region. While the Cold War era was dominated by nuclear and traditional security logics, there have been three main shifts since then including 2) 1990s-2007, 3) 2007-2019, and 4) 2019-present. This research finds that Arctic security knowledge clearly follows global security trends. Thus, as security has widened and deepened globally, so too have the potential meanings of Arctic security expanded. However, there is a clear hierarchy in today’s general discourse regarding what issues take center stage for the Arctic such as great power competition and climate change. This is in contrast to the Arctic Council, which takes into account all but military security definitions for Arctic security and integrates them in a relatively balanced way. This has implications for ocean governance institutions and the degree to which traditional military security concerns should be left out of broader ocean governance.</p>

Geopolitical competition of great powers in the Arctic

The article examines the complex issues of Arctic security arising from changing geopolitical realities; explores the new Cold War atmosphere in the region mixed with melting ice, which affects military planning and opens new economic opportunities and access to natural resources. Particular attention is paid to the reasons for the competition of great powers for primacy in the Arctic. It is noted that in recent years, the region has begun to shift from the principles of international cooperation and has quickly transformed into an arena of great power rivalry. The military presence has increased as well as the competing economic investments and political activity from significant political actors: Russia, China, and the United States of America. Now that all the great powers are investing in the Arctic, the concept of peace and cooperation is giving way to the concept of security and deterrence. To examine these factors, thе article uses a typical neorealist view of international relations, arguing that the driving force behind the rapid growth of the Arctic race is not the region itself, but the transforming structure of the international relations, which tends to effectively reproduce the causes of global competition. It the author’s view, peaceful rivalry in the Arctic may not last long, given the lack of effective institutions to address security issues in the region and the fact that changes in the global balance of power also affect local disputes and grievances.

Nuanced futures: Canadian and US defence in the North American Arctic

ABSTRACT Canada and the United States have a shared interest in North American defence, and both have committed to spending on Arctic defence capabilities. Defence interactions with China and Russia, and the development of new weapons systems, have put a spotlight on Arctic defence. Much of the resulting activity is preparation for potential, future competition rather than concerns about confrontation in the short term. Nevertheless, preparation discrepancies between Canadian and US approaches to Arctic defence become apparent. In particular, the United States takes a more forward-leaning military approach to Arctic security than does Canada, with a defence-centric military posture. These differences are not insurmountable, and shared understanding of the most significant defence threats related to the North American Arctic, in addition to the long-standing NORAD connection, represent solid foundations. Nevertheless, differences represent areas of friction that could be exploited by adversaries and Canada–US dialogue to minimize the effect of this non-alignment in approaches will be critical.

Militarisation of the Arctic and Problems of Strengthening the Security of the Russian North

The relevance is due to the fact that the main rea¬sons and prerequisites for the expansion of military activity of the Arctic countries are caused by the aggravation of the international situation in the world, the emergence of a new architecture of international relations. It is emphasised that the increasing role of the Russian Federation in the global energy and food markets, as well as in the global maritime logistics, blocks the United States and its NATO allies, forcing them to pursue an aggressive course and militarize the Arctic. Russia is forced to retaliate by strengthening its defence in this region. The article is aimed at the author's assessment of the processes of militarisation of the Arctic, the authors use the following research methods: structural-functional logistic, historical-comparative. The task of the research is to study the strengthening of the role of the Arctic in modern conditions. The article uses elements of expertise. Strengthening the Arctic security of the Russian Federation hopes for a sensible approach and independent from the U.S. Arctic policy of small states members of the Arctic Council, such as Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, which Washington tries to “twist arms” and forces to strengthen military presence in the region. Moscow also counts on the support of such friendly countries as India and China to develop the Arctic and strengthen regional security in this emerging region. A good dialogue and joint practical activities in the Arctic have already been built with China. Its economy, economic power, and growing political weight as a nuclear power and as a permanent member of the UN Security Council are indisputable. China is increasingly becoming a global superpower capable of really confronting the United States.

Creating the Joint Arctic Command: Cutting Cost or Preparing for the Future? Strategic Culture, Arctic Security and Strategic Reasoning within the Kingdom of Denmark

Creating the Joint Arctic Command: Cutting Cost or Preparing for the Future? Strategic Culture, Arctic Security and Strategic Reasoning within the Kingdom of Denmark

Deep Space and Arctic Security Issues

Deep Space and Arctic Security Issues

Comparative Analysis of Arctic-Related Strategies at the National Level: Competition and Collaboration

The melting of ice creates favorable conditions for the development of the Arctic by elevating the Arctic’s geostrategic value and stoking national competition. As a result, many states, both within and beyond the Arctic region, have recently released Arctic strategies or updated existing ones, clarifying their roles, interests, priorities, and policies for Arctic international cooperation. In this study, a database is generated with a collection of Arctic strategies from 16 states, and then grounded theory is applied to code the texts in these strategy documents. Using this code, word-frequency analysis, cross-tabulation, correlation analysis, and cooperative-network analysis are implemented to explore competition and collaboration in the Arctic among these 16 states. The results indicate that Arctic states are significantly concerned with governance, economic and social development, and security and stability, while environmental protection and scientific research are given more attention by non-Arctic states. In addition, the highest value of the Pearson correlation coefficient is identified as 0.85 for collaboration and Arctic public security affairs, which indicates that collaboration on Arctic security will dominate the development of Arctic affairs in the near future.

An Insecure North?

State actors are becoming increasingly interested in the economic potential and security dynamics of the Arctic space as the effects of global climatic change rapidly shape the world’s polar spaces. National governments have responded to these changing dynamics by tailoring their defence policies to reflect what they believe to be the most pressing challenges to their presence in the region. This article asks; how is the north framed and whose voices are reflected in Canadian defence policy? It concludes that the conventional framing of Canada’s north remains deeply influenced by the idealized and imagined narratives of Canadian governance with little inclusion of disparate voices.
 By examining the defence white papers of prime ministers Chretien, Martin, Harper, and Trudeau, this article determines that Canadian Arctic security discourse has increased significantly in the post-Cold War era while the region’s Inuit population remain external to its dialogue. This absence of Indigenous voice in Canadian defence policy reflects an unsustainable Eurocentric viewing of the North that is unable to adequately address the region’s changing dynamics. As such, Canada’s future defence policy must acknowledge the distinct and transnational value of Inuit traditional knowledge to overcome the limitations of conventional trans-Atlantic policy frameworks.

Arctic Security: A Global Challenge

Arctic security is a main security challenge—a global one, not only a regional one—not only for the Arctic countries, but for the whole international community, first of all Europe. With the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China expanding their role in the area, and the difficulty of finding an undisputed governance on maritime routes and economic exploitation of resources, there is the risk of militarization of the Arctic. After briefly summarizing current and future challenges in the Arctic, this article analyzes the limits due to a deficit of suitable instruments to maintain security in the region, especially in relation to the role of international intergovernmental organizations, and it suggests some remedies to overcome these deficiencies.

Russia’s Arctic Designs and NATO

The war in Ukraine has made Russia’s Arctic strategy of developing the Northern Sea Route more important. Moscow and Beijing share interests in redirecting Russian energy and mineral exports towards China and expanding infrastructure along Russia’s Arctic coastline to connect the Northern Sea Route with China’s Polar Silk Road. Chinese investments and technology are necessary to realise the sea route’s commercial potential and protect Russia’s Arctic security interests. Supply lines between North America and Europe traverse the High North. China is supporting a strengthened Russian defence posture by expanding cooperation on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. This will help Russia challenge NATO along both China’s coastline and Russia’s borders with NATO. Accordingly, NATO needs to devise a strategy that recognises the interdependence of its eastern and northern flanks.

Pulling back the curtain: coloniality-based narratives of wilderness in US Arctic policy

ABSTRACT Traditional readings of state-centric security in the Arctic centre questions of physical, political, and economic security as the primary issues for the eight Arctic states. These more material aspects of security, however, do not adequately explain the role of coloniality in Arctic security policies and the prevalence of coloniality-based narratives of wilderness in Arctic policy. I argue that in sustaining its ontological security in the Arctic, the United States – across the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations – uses coloniality-based narratives of wilderness to justify policy. By conducting a discourse analysis focused on ‘wilderness’ conceptualisations of American Arctic policy from 2009 to 2021, I demonstrate that the United States continues to use coloniality-based narratives to understand the Arctic and that this has serious consequences for how the United States can act in the Arctic now and in the future. As a settler colonial state, the continuation of the United States’ sense of self is intrinsically connected to coloniality, which has profound implications for Indigenous and northern peoples.

Основные теоретические подходы в политических исследованиях Арктики

The article identifies and analyzes the main theoretical approaches used in the studies of international relations and politics in the Arctic. Contemporary studies of the Arctic use elements of several main approaches in the field of international relations: realism, liberalism, social constructivism and global gov-ernance, as well as some others. The theoretical alternative between realism and liberalism manifests itself primary in the issues of Arctic security. Liberalism and the concept of global governance play an important role in explaining the multilevel and multi-actor nature of political processes and governance in the region. Social constructivism contributes to the understanding and functioning of Arctic political narratives. However, in most cases, they exist in the form of implicit assumptions rather than as systematically developed and substantiated models. The theoretical differences are mainly related to the definition of units and levels of analysis, particularly the role of states and other types of actors, and the nature of the relationship between them. Despite the fact that realistic approaches considering Arctic politics as inevitable competition of states in the logic of “zero-sum games” remain quite common, the general tendency is to search for more complex theoretical models that recognize the diversity of actors involved in Arctic processes, as well as the possibility of cooperative relations.

Scotland: A Touchstone for Security in the High North?

Scotland’s geostrategic significance to the High North is being overlooked in debates about the potential impacts of ‘Scexit’, as well as wider discussions about the changing Arctic security environment. Duncan Depledge and Andreas Østhagen address this oversight by drawing attention to Scotland’s historic role in contributing to the defence of NATO’s ‘northern flank’ and analysing how this is being resurrected in response to new challenges emerging in the High North. They conclude that there are some specific challenges that policymakers should address as the independence debate continues: most importantly, the potential for a ‘gap’ to be created in the regional security architecture of the High North.◼

Canadian American Solutions to the Questions of Arctic Security

On November 22, 2021, Dr. Robert Huebert, Professor at the University of Calgary, presented Canadian American Solutions to the Questions of Arctic Security at the 2021 CASIS West Coast Security Conference. The presentation was followed by a question and answer period with questions from the audience and CASIS Vancouver executives. The key points discussed were Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic, the changing global threat environment, and the US-Canada Arctic partnership.

Arctic Security and Defence in a Competitive World

On November 22, 2021, Dr. Andrea Charron, Director for the Center for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba, presented on Arctic Security and Defence in a Competitive World at the 2021 CASIS West Coast Security Conference. The primary focus of Dr. Charron’s presentation was on three key areas of questioning the competitiveness of international order within Arctic security and defence. These areas were: competition, decision makers, and fora for navigating competition. The presentation was followed by a question and answer period with questions from the audience and CASIS Vancouver executives.

Canadian Sovereignty in the Arctic

On November 22, 2021, Dr. Whitney Lackenbauer, Professor and Canada Research Chair at Trent University, presented Canadian-American Solutions to the Questions of Arctic Security at the 2021 CASIS West Coast Security Conference. The presentation was followed by a question and answer period with questions from the audience and CASIS Vancouver executives. The key points discussed were Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic, the changing global threat environment, and the U.S.-Canada Arctic partnership.

Ken S. Coates and Carin Holroyd (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Arctic Policy and Politics (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020)

The Palgrave Handbook of Arctic Policy and Politics is one of an increasing number of anthologies addressing Arctic governance from a variety of academic perspectives. The collection is organised into seven parts, each representing a different discipline although by the nature of the topic, these often overlap. These are: I Indigenous Peoples and Arctic Social Dynamics; II Economic Development; III Policies of Arctic Nations; IV The Arctic and International Relations; V Arctic Legal and Institutional Systems; Arctic Security; and VII Reflections on Future of the Arctic (emphasis in original).

Northern and Arctic Security and Sovereignty: Challenges and Opportunities for a Northern Corridor

Key Messages Key issues related to Canada’s security and defence agenda, which involve critical and essential infrastructure development, must be considered in the development and implementation of a Canadian Northern Corridor (CNC). Canada’s northern and Arctic security and defence agenda is related to several key policy domains that are relevant from a CNC perspective. These include infrastructure development, climate change, Indigenous sovereignty and natural resource development. A CNC will gain international attention and be internationally recognized as a strategy for Canada to assert its sovereignty over its Arctic territory, including the internationally disputed Northwest Passage. The CNC advocates for the inclusion and participation of Indigenous communities. Thus, Indigenous Peoples will also carry a significant role in the monitoring and surveillance of accessibility within and to the North, improved through enhanced infrastructure development. Canada’s investments in Arctic defence infrastructure are modest comparedto those of its Russian and American neighbours. A CNC, potentially adding strategically important infrastructure in the Canadian North, will directly tie into the discourse of Arctic security and power relations. In addition to natural disasters, the Canadian North is at significant risk of human-made disasters that pose serious prospective challenges for northerners and for federal and territorial governments. The CNC will likely foster the development of surveillance and monitoring assets. The CNC rights-of-way could trigger security concerns regarding the impactof foreign investment as a security threat, especially if natural resource development is coupled with the development of strategic transportation hubs, such as ports along the coast of the Arctic Ocean. CNC transportation infrastructure would also become a part of Canada’s defence strategy as it forms a potential key asset in the defence and safeguarding of Canada’s northern and Arctic regions. Future research should identify the role of dual-use infrastructure (infrastructure that satisfies both military and civilian purposes) in the CNC context and also examine to what extent security and defence stakeholders should be involved in the CNC’s planning and implementation.

Northern and Arctic Security and Sovereignty: Challenges and Opportunities for a Northern Corridor

Northern and Arctic Security and Sovereignty: Challenges and Opportunities for a Northern Corridor