Contesting the Arctic

‘De-Securitising the Arctic’ in Climate Change: An Indian Perspective

“…To make their territorial claims stronger in the region, the states are pursuing hard realist measures in the form of enhanced military patrols of aircraft and navy vessels, forward positioning of troops and military bases, extreme research expeditions and large-scale military exercises (Spohr et al, 2013, p. 34; Staalesen, 2018). The year 2007 marked yet important significant event when to make its position stronger on territorial claims in the region Arthur Chilingarov , a Russian polar explorer planted a titanium Russian flag on the seabed at the North Pole with Russian submersible Mir-1 (Steinberg et al, 2015, p. 18). This event received a lot of international attention followed by sharp comments from leaders of other Arctic states criticising this Russian move.…”

Tall Tales from the High North: Contested Discourses of the Arctic as a Political Space

“…Such an emphasis on different, interacting conceptions from a range of actors has drawn some attention in relatively recent research (Knecht and Keil 2013;Auerswald 2020;Heininen et al 2020;Steinberg, Tasch, and Gerhardt 2015;Väätänen and Zimmerbauer 2020). Knecht and Keil's study on foreign policy discourses of the Arctic finds that socially constructed geographies emerge from how actors imagine and produce a space that differs from that found in sovereign states (2013,.…”

“…Auerswald traces prevalent approaches to Arctic governance, and draws a storyline of key controversies that impact how the story of the region is told, emphasising the outcome rather than the process of discursive contestation. Steinberg, Tasch and Gerhardt (2015), through over 150 interviews, identifies seven imaginaries of the Arctic region, including "Terra nullius", "Nature Reserve" and "Resource Frontier". This makes this book a rich empirical source, as well as a powerful demonstration of the benefits of an open, grounded approach where discourses emerge organically through the research process.…”

An Arctic ‘cold rush’? Understanding Greenland's (in)dependence question

“…Throughout the whole political spectrum, you don't talk about Greenlandic independence like something that might happen, or if it happens. It is a question of when (as cited in Steinberg, Tasch, & Gerhardt, 2015, p. 70).…”

“…It has become commonplace to claim that mining and drilling are ‘the country's ticket to freedom’ (Emmerson, 2010, p. 265); the key to Greenland developing ‘the financial clout to go it alone’ (The Economist , 2015). From this perspective, Greenland has the makings of an ‘Inuit petro-state’ (Steinberg et al, 2015, p. 79). For Rasmussen (2013), Greenland's natural resources play not just a deciding role in terms of its status in the world but also a romantic one: Greenland's minerals constitute a symbolic as well as economic bridge between Greenland of the past and a future independent nation.…”