Shiblee Rashid

(2021) No 9, Issue 1

Geopolitics of the Arctic: Through the Lens of State Securitization

 

Mohammed Abdullah SHIBLEE
Md Mufassir RASHID

pages: 52-62

 

 

Abstract

Owing to its vast deposits of mineral resources and its potential as a new sea-route that would connect the East with the Far East, the Arctic region had often been the subject of immense interest and speculations for the past four to five decades. However, as time went by, the “Scramble for Arctic” had only intensified the geopolitical dynamics between Arctic Five countries, who are vying to establish a strong foothold in the region either by peaceful or strategic means. USA and Russia are the two prominent players in the area; not to mention Canada and the newly entrant China. Using the theory of state centrism, we analyse the propensity for a resource war in Arctic from a geopolitical standpoint.

Keywords

the Arctic, Geopolitics, Cold War, Political Ecology, Environmental Degradation

References

Bard K et al. (2008) Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal: Estimates of Undiscovered Oil and Gas North of the Arctic Circle. U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2008-3049, USGS, Available from: https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2008/3049/ (accessed 28 May 2021).

Czarny R (2015) Geopolitics of the High North and its consequences. Slovak Journal of Political Sciences, 15(4), 272-293, Available from: http://archive.sciendo.com/SJPS/sjps.2015.15.issue-4/sjps-2015-0013/sjps-2015-0013.pdf (accessed 28 May 2021).

Dodds K (2010) A Polar Mediterranean? Accessibility, Resources and Sovereignty in the Arctic Ocean. Global Policy, 1(3), 303-311, Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1758-5899.2010.00038.x (accessed 28 May 2021).

Erokhin V, Gao T and Zhang X (2018) Handbook of Research on International Collaboration, Economic Development, and Sustainability in the Arctic. Practice, Progress, and Proficiency in Sustainability, 32-35.

Gauthier D (2011) Oil and gas resource potential north of the Arctic Circle. In: International Oil Spill Conference, pp. 56-58.

Goldstein L (2020) Washington should chill out over Russia’s Arctic ambitions. Defense News, Available from: https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/11/13/reflecting-on-future-us-russia-relations-through-the-lens-of-the-high-north/ (accessed 28 May 2021).

Hough P (2015) Environmental Security. In: Hough P, Malik S and Moran A et al. (ed.), International Security Studies: Theory and Practice, pp. 211-225.

Humpert M (2020) U.S. Warns Of Russian Arctic Military Buildup: “Who puts missiles on icebreakers?”. High North News, Available from: https://www.highnorthnews.com/en/us-warns-russian-arctic-military-buildup-who-puts-missiles-icebreakers (accessed 28 May 2021).

Lackenbauer W (2013) Harper’s Arctic evolution. The Globe and Mail, Available from: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/harpers-arctic-evolution/article13852195/ (accessed 28 May 2021).

Mathews J (1989) Redefining Security. Foreign Affairs, Available from: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/1989-03-01/redefining-security (accessed 28 May 2021).

Secretary of the Airforce, USA (2020) ARCTIC STRATEGY. Department of Defense, USA, Available from: https://www.af.mil/Portals/1/documents/2020SAF/July/ArcticStrategy.pdf (accessed 28 May 2021).

Shoumatoff A (2008) The Arctic Oil Rush. Global Policy Forum, Available from: https://archive.globalpolicy.org/security/natres/oil/2008/052008arctic.htm (accessed 28 May 2021).

Staalesen A (2019) No more Shtokman Development. The Barent Observer, Available from: https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/industry-and-energy/2019/06/no-more-shtokman-development (accessed 28 May 2021).

TASS (2018) Moscow to benefit from evolving US-China trade war — Russian diploma. Available from: https://tass.com/economy/1002820 (accessed 28 May 2021).

 

 

 

Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.