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61. Understanding The Arctic Council: A 'Sub-Regional' Perspective

Author:
Alyson J. K. Bailes
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
The international architecture of the circumpolar Arctic region is unusual in several ways. All countries directly involved – Canada, the USA, Russia and the five Nordic nations, who are also the states members of the Arctic Council – are regarded in other contexts as part of a 'Euro-Atlantic' nexus, and all belong to bodies like the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Yet the classic Euro-Atlantic institutions have so far barely engaged with the new issues created by the opening up of the region though ice melting. NATO does not have an Arctic policy as such, while the OSCE itself and the Council of Europe have been only marginally involved. The European Union has a de facto presence in several dimensions (climate management, the energy market, shipping, research and monitoring etc), but has so far failed to secure the status of an observer at the Arctic Council.
Political Geography:
Russia, America, Europe, Canada, and Nordic Nations

62. China's Growing Interest in the Arctic

Author:
David Curtis Wright
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
China started being actively interested in Arctic affairs in 2007, and since that time its interest has become manifestly obvious to the international community. Even if 'The Arctic is not destined to become a priority of China's foreign policy,' China seems firmly convinced that in the future, and perhaps the not-too-distant future, the Arctic will become the economic crossroads and geopolitical pivot of the globe, the central point of contact and communication between the three regions that run the world and the world's economy; these are, not in any particular order, East Asia, North America, and Western Europe. It will remain much more concerned about this than about climate change, although China does note the effect of climate change on China. As I have written elsewhere, 'China seems to see the overall effect of Arctic climate change as more of a beckoning economic opportunity than a looming environmental crisis.'
Political Geography:
China, East Asia, North America, and Western Europe

63. The European Union - An Arctic Actor?

Author:
Andreas Østhagen
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
In the context of rapidly growing interest in the Arctic, a wide range of actors, from non-Arctic states to NGOs, have been forced to re-think their own relations to this remote region. The European Union has also started a process of legitimising itself as an Arctic actor and laying the groundwork for its own Arctic policy. A seminal moment was the European Commission's communication in November 2008, which outlined the first points to be considered when developing an EU Arctic Policy.
Political Geography:
Europe

64. The Quest for Resources - the Case of Greenland

Author:
Bent Ole Gram Mortensen
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
The importance of resources for any country does not require much introduction. History is filled with exhaustively described examples of where the need for access to various kinds of resources – drinking water, agricultural land, various minerals – has been geopolitically important and has even led to war. War strategies themselves can be affected by the need for access to resources. Germany's and Japan's needs for oil and World War II are prime examples.
Political Geography:
Japan and Germany

65. The "new" Arctic - the Military Dimension

Author:
Paal Sigurd Hilde
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
In the last two decades, a scholarly and popular debate has emerged about the salience of geography in shaping the foreign and security policies of states. On one side of the debate, we find the perspective that globalisation, driven by technological evolution, has made geography all but irrelevant. This argument, often termed the "End of Geography" argument, emerged in the 1990s and was strengthened by the post-9/11 identification of international terrorism as the prime threat to international security. Not only was the world ever more interconnected economically, but also threats were a-geographic, partly by virtue of coming from non-state actors.
Political Geography:
Europe

66. Conclusion

Author:
Sten Rynning
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
The 'new' Arctic is opening a new dimension of global politics. It is most vividly illustrated by the globe and the need to turn it in new directions if we are to grasp the geography of polar issues: all the globes and most of the maps of this world look at the world horizontally, placing the equator horizontally at the middle and inviting the observer to gaze right and left, east and west. The Arctic is a chopped up area located at the northern margins of the map. Google Earth and other electronic maps offer relief – they can be twisted and turned in all directions – but it will take some time before we change our mental maps and find it natural to adopt a polar perspective.
Political Geography:
Europe

67. Appendix: Conference on Arctic Security: Summary and Perspectives

Author:
Henrik Linbo Larsen and Jakob Aroe Jorgensen
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
Depending on which theoretical framework we use to study Arctic security, we would expect to see different levels of cooperation and competition. From an international law perspective, issues of who has the rights over resources, in terms of owning the seabed, are highly significant. From a geopolitical perspective, the issues of a new ice-free nautical passage north of Russia may result in a new geopolitical reality where Russia is no longer the heartland state but becomes part of the rimland of Eurasia. From a global commons perspective, the key focus is the free and global access to the Arctic.
Political Geography:
Russia and Eurasia

68. Canadian Defence Spending – A Case Study of Mismanagement

Author:
Jeffrey Gilmour
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
In 2010, the Harper Government announced the "Canada First Defence Strategy" whereby a list of required equipment was listed for our military. This included orders for support vehicles, search and rescue helicopters, a new fighter jet to replace the F-18 Hornet, support ships and Arctic patrol vessels plus a polar ice breaker for the Coast Guard. The replacement contract for the CH124 Sea King helicopter was already in the works with Sikorsky as the prime contractor.
Political Geography:
Canada

69. The (Re)-Gathering of the Russian People?

Author:
James Keeley
Publication Date:
06-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
Eight hundred years ago, the Mongol conquest of Kievan Rus' left Russians divided among many subordinated principalities and polities. Over time, the Grand Duchy of Muscovy brought them together under its sway, laying the foundation for the Russian Empire. Over time, the Tsars extended their reach, to the marshes on which St. Petersburg was built in the north, in the south to a port at Sevastopol in the Crimea, to another on the Pacific, Vladivostok, and to the heart of Central Asia.
Political Geography:
Russia and Central Asia

70. The Disciplinary Gaze of the Camera's Eye: Soldiers' Conscience and Moral Responsibility

Author:
Erella Grassiani and Desiree Verweij
Publication Date:
06-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
Even though the concept of conscience is complex and multi-interpretable , it is still widely seen as the prime source of morally responsible behavior and often referred to as the 'internal witness' and as such the moral guide of our actions. However, what happens to conscience in the practice of violent conflict in the post-modern era? Today's battlefields are not mysterious and unknown places anymore; we can 'join' the happenings live through satellite connections and journalists who are on site. In such an era where it seems that nothing we do stays unseen it is interesting to look at what happens to soldiers' conscience and their moral responsibility when they are being watched ; when their actions are 'witnessed' by outsiders armed with cameras. Is there a relation between the external witness and thus judgment from outside, from a wider sometimes unseen audience and the 'internal witness' (private reflection on one's behavior), what became known as 'conscious'? Does the camera, in reflecting soldiers actions, work as a conscientious witness? Is it the disciplinary gaze of the camera that keeps soldiers from engaging in immoral behavior? Yet, if this is the case how can we explain soldiers photographing themselves or letting themselves be filmed when committing immoral acts?

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