Melting ice and new sea routes

The Arctic is a site of competition for natural ressources and land claims, emerging from such things as melting ice and new sea routes, and the Arctic has routinely been portrayed as a possible spot for inter-state conflict, although not necessarily of a military kind. Nevertheless, a key argument developed by Annika Bergman Rosamond is that such accounts do not sufficiently consider the wide range of institutional and indigenous collaborative initiatives that have come to define the Arctic area; there are many signs of fruitful regional cooperation and sound neighbourly relations.

The report provides a discussion of contemporary security developments in the Arctic by placing the emphasis on the relationship between climate change and strategic interests related to sovereign claims. It takes issue with the frequent portrayal of the Arctic as a hotspot for potential conflict by arguing that although there are unresolved territorial disputes between the Arctic coastal states, there is also broad commitment to Arctic peace and stability through multilateral cooperation and governance.

A brief overview of Danish Arctic policy with emphasis on both non-military and military developments is also provided.

The author proposes that broad dialogue between states and people plus multilevel participation in decision-making processes are central to the creation of new spheres of regional community in the Arctic.