Polar Geopolitics

The admission of China, India, Japan, Singapore and South Korea as observers to the Arctic Council in 2013 seemed a turning point in contemporary Arctic history, with the rapidly increasing engagement of Asian states appearing to signal the arrival of globalization as well as a new era of geopolitics in the High North. But how has it so far played out on the ground and on the ice? To analyze the evolving strategies and activities of the five Asian observer states over the past seven years, Polar Geopolitics is joined by Dr. Mia Bennett, associate professor at the University of Hong Kong and founder of the Cryopolitics blog. Dr. Bennett is an expert on Asian activity in the Arctic, and is a co-author of the newly-published edited volume “Observing the Arctic: Asia in the Arctic Council and Beyond” (Edward Elgar, 2020).

The opening of a US Consulate in Nuuk, Greenland represents the latest in a series of moves that signal a deepening geopolitical engagement in the Arctic by the United States in response to Russian and Chinese advances in the region. To explain the current U.S. policy and strategic outlook on the Arctic, including an in-depth discussion on Greenland, this episode of the podcast features an interview with one of the top American officials on Arctic issues: Michael J. Murphy, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nordic, Baltic, and Arctic Security Affairs at the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State.

Although Antarctica is the only continent without a case of COVID-19, the pandemic has already caused a great deal of disruption to the ATS governance regime, as well as to scientific research and the tourism industry. Some even foresee a shift in Antarctic geopolitics as a result of the coronavirus crisis. To analyze the range of potential impacts of COVID-19 on Antarctica in the short, medium and long term, this episode of Polar Geopolitics features Associate Professor Alan Hemmings, an expert on Antarctic governance and geopolitics at the Gateway Antarctica Centre for Antarctic Studies and Research at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Russian and Norwegian interests intersect and occasionally collide in the Barents Sea and Svalbard, an Arctic geopolitical hotspot where lucrative fisheries, extensive energy resources and strategic nuclear forces exist in relatively close proximity. To analyze why simmering tensions between Norway and Russia in the Barents-Svalbard region have once again risen to the surface, Polar Geopolitics is joined by Dr. Andreas Østhagen, a senior research fellow at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute and an expert on Arctic geopolitics and the Barents Sea.

In part 2 of the interview with Polar Geopolitics, Prof. Ilan Kelman explains how the coronavirus crisis provides an opportunity for actors inside and outside the Arctic to influence policy agendas and reshape the geopolitics of the region. Also in this episode, polar historian Peder Roberts tells of the failed attempt to introduce penguins into northern Norway.

Communities in the sparsely populated Arctic already faced significant social, economic and public health challenges, and the specter of COVID-19 spreading to the circumpolar North raises a number of serious concerns. What is more, the widespread disruptions in the wake of the pandemic will hit Northern communities that depend on for instance tourism, international scientific activity and the export of natural resources particularly hard. Ilan Kelman, a Professor of Disasters and Health, joins the podcast to explain how underlying vulnerabilities in Arctic communities could lead to an array of serious consequences in the context of the coronavirus crisis.

With energy shipments rapidly expanding and apparent personal chemistry between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, the alignment of Russian and Chinese interests has caused concern in some capitols and altered the geopolitical calculus in the Arctic. But is this simply an emerging strategic partnership of convenience, which obscures a deeper level of strategic mistrust between two countries that have for centuries oscillated between being allies and adversaries? Ekaterina Klimenko analyzes the currently warming relationship between Russia—the geographic giant of the Arctic, and China—the ambitious Arctic outsider that has a yen to build a ‘polar silk road’ along the northern reaches of Eurasia. This episode also features a new segment on the podcast featuring polar historian Peder Roberts, who tells the tale of the Nazi expedition to Antarctica and Neuschwabenland, their short-lived claim on the continent.

The Northern Sea Route is central to questions of shipping, security, sovereignty, climate change and the exploitation and export of the massive energy reserves in the north of Russia, making the development of the NSR perhaps the most pivotal geopolitical issue in the Arctic this decade. It also represents a window—albeit often less than transparent—into the complexities of Russian domestic politics and the Kremlin’s intentions in the circumpolar North. Ekaterina Klimenko, an expert on Russia and the Arctic at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, joins the Polar Geopolitics podcast to share her wide-ranging analytical insights into this storied and increasingly strategic waterway in the context of contemporary Arctic and Russian geopolitics.

“The creation of polar identity is ultimately a matter of geopolitics, of the value states see in instruments and symbols that speak to polar rather than Arctic or Antarctic interests,” according to a new article entitled “Is there anything natural about the polar?”. Peder Roberts, co-author of the article, joins the Polar Geopolitics podcast to explain how the labelling of activities, issues and institutions as “polar” has long served a geopolitical purpose for states and other actors seeking to exert influence at the planetary extremes.

Responsible for all Canadian Armed Forces activity across the vast arc of northern Canada, Joint Task Force North plays a crucial role in safeguarding the North American Arctic. Polar Geopolitics is honored to welcome Brigadier General Patrick Carpentier, Commander of JTFN, for episode 20 of the podcast. BGen Carpentier discusses the main missions of JTFN and the array of challenges Canadian forces face in providing military security, engaging in crisis management and ensuring civilian safety in the Arctic at a time of significant environmental and geopolitical change, as well as increasing human activity in the Far North. He also explains the key contribution of the Canadian Rangers in securing the remote reaches of Canada’s Arctic territories.

Fresh off the 38thmeeting of CCAMLR that once again failed to achieve consensus on additional marine protected areas, the ATS might be seen as showing signs of stress amid escalating great power competition. Associate Prof. Jeffrey McGee, an expert on international law and Antarctica at the University of Tasmania, however, makes the case that the ATS is a resilient regime that 60 years after its signing remains a shining light of global governance for the area south of 60° South. On this episode, Dr. McGee applies his international legal perspective in discussing current Antarctic geopolitics, Australia’s ‘bifocal’ outlook on its neighbor to the south, and how the ATS interacts with other governance regimes at the global level. He also puts in context the CCAMLR 38 meeting that recently took place in his hometown of Hobart.

Is the Antarctic Treaty System obsolete, and could it collapse in the near future? Dr. Elizabeth Buchanan of the Australian National University explains why she is concerned that the increasing great power interest and Antarctic activity—ostensibly in the name of science—could jeopardize the almost 60-year-old ATS, and even lead to conflict if the Treaty is not updated to reflect current geopolitical realities. She also discusses Australia’s precarious situation as the state with the largest Antarctic claim (frozen under the ATS), which includes the ‘Dome A’ area where China has recently applied to create a Specially Managed Area around its Kunlun Station located there at the strategic highest point of the continent.

Environmental change in the frozen parts of the planet—the Cryosphere—have implications well beyond the polar regions and motivate much of the increased international interest in the Arctic and Antarctic. To better understand this key driver of scientific research, climate activism and geopolitical calculation, this episode of the podcast takes a deep dive into the just-released landmark IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate with Martin Sommerkorn, the coordinating lead author of the polar regions chapter of SROCC.

In the midst of an escalating diplomatic crisis between the United States and Denmark, international relations expert Prof. Paul Musgrave joins the Polar Geopolitics podcast to provide analysis, insight and an array of perspectives—American, global, historical—on Donald Trump’s interest in buying Greenland, an unfolding story that has sent shockwaves far beyond the Arctic.

Reports of Donald Trump's interest in the U.S. buying Greenland from Denmark - without doubt the most unexpected and outrageous Arctic news story in recent memory - has attracted ridicule and rapidly morphed into a diplomatic crisis. Associate Professor Jon Rahbek-Clemmensen, an expert on Denmark-Greenland-U.S. relations at the Royal Danish Defense College, joins Polar Geopolitics for an analysis of Trump's Greenland gambit and its wide-ranging ramifications on Arctic geopolitics.

In a continent recognized as a global commons, yet where seven states hold frozen claims and others are eager to be seen as stakeholders, history and the cultural heritage remains of earlier expeditions to Antarctica are deeply entangled in the geopolitics of the southern polar region. On this episode, Polar Geopolitics speaks with three polar historians and cultural heritage experts—Dag Avango, Lize-Marie van der Watt and Peder Roberts—who explain these complex interlinkages that strongly influence contemporary activity and the governance of Antarctica. The evolution and importance of the Antarctic humanities is also discussed in the wake of major conference on the subject in Ushuaia, Argentina.

A confluence of events in 2007 made the media take major interest in the Arctic, and the geopolitical narrative that emerged that year continues to shape public and political perceptions on the opportunities and risks the region and the world faces in the wake of accelerated climate change. This episode features three experts—Alice Rogoff, founder of Arctic Today; technology historian Nina Wormbs; and media studies professor Miya Christensen—that share their insights on the Arctic media landscape and events like the 2007 Arctic sea ice minimum that drive coverage and underpin narratives of geopolitical conflict and competition over Arctic resources.

Many stakeholders, particularly environmental NGOs, involved with last October's meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources were highly critical of the Commission's failure to reach agreement on additional Marine Protected Areas in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica. Frida Bengtsson is global Project Lead for the Greenpeace 'Protect the Antarctic' campaign, and participated in the meeting in Hobart, Australia on behalf of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition. On this episode of the podcast, she shares her experiences and insights from an NGO perspective on working with, and sometimes against, state and commercial interests in safeguarding both polar regions from excessive exploitation. In addition to the CCAMLR negotiations for MPAs in the Weddell Sea and East Antarctica, Frida also discusses Greenpeace's work with Southern Ocean krill fisheries, the problem of microplastics, and other environmental issues pertaining to the polar regions.

What lessons for contemporary climate adaptation can we learn from the Viking-era Norse settlement on Greenland, which was founded in the midst of the Mediaeval Warm Period and disappeared during the Little Ice Age? Prof. Thomas McGovern, an environmental archaeologist and world leading authority on Medieval Arctic cultures, shares his insights from decades of fieldwork in the North Atlantic into how historic societies succeeded or failed to adapt to a changing climate and shifting socio-economic circumstances, and how this may inform the present period of environmental change and geopolitical interest in the region.

In part two of the interview with Polar Geopolitics, Dr. Annika Nilsson shares her insights into the history and inner-workings of the Arctic Council, including its role in promoting peace, enhancing environmental knowledge, and facilitating science diplomacy among member states and non-Arctic observers to the Council. She also considers contrasting portrayals of the Arctic as a region of peaceful cooperation versus media narratives of looming conflict.