Cooperation or Confrontation in the Arctic?
Soldiers of the 23rd Engineer Company, 6th Engineer Battalion (Combat) (Airborne), 2nd Engineer Brigade, U.S. Army Alaska. Photo: Justin Connaher
For our German readers only (or those who would like to become such): The German magazine WeltTrends has recently published a special Arctic issue, questioning the still existing Arctic narrative of regional conflict or cooperation (Wettlauf um die Arktis, WeltTrends 140, June 2018). Read below the abstract of Kathrin’s article: Zwischen Kooperation und Konfrontation.
WeltTrends: Wettlauf um die Arktis
Due to rapidly unfolding climate change in the Arctic, possible conflicts about the North have been subject to public debate over recent years. Increasing access to thus far undiscovered oil and gas resources is in the centre of international attention. A thorough analysis of the interests of various actors involved, of the actual relevance of those potential resources to national policies, and of the institutions in place to contain conflictive behaviour in fact point to cooperation rather than confrontation in Arctic affairs.
The article provides analytical clarity as to the frequent, and often unclear, usage of concepts such as cooperation, conflict, and confrontation. While “conflict” describes disagreement between actors on certain goals or how to achieve these goals, “cooperation” and “confrontation” are different ways to respond to such a situation of conflict. Thus, conflict is a prerequisite for cooperation to occur. The increasing access to the Arctic indeed imlplies a higher likelihood of conflict – since more and more actors are drawn to Arctic affairs and thus it is increasingly likely that their interests could be in conflict with each other. It is, however, not inevitable that these conflict situations will also lead to confrontation. The article shows that political interests, the technical and economic difficulties related to resource development in the Arctic, and the governance framework hint to little potential for a confrontational handling of Arctic conflicts.