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KCIS 2011
THE CHANGING ARCTIC
Sovereignty, Resources & Security
For most of their history, the states of northern Eurasia and North America have directed their foreign policies anywhere but northward. In the early twenty-first century, however, the emergent forces of globalization and climate change have turned a vast, inhospitable region from a neglected back yard to an international arena where the evident benefits of cooperation must compete in the minds of governments with traditional tendencies toward rivalry and the consequent risk of intensified conflict. Rapid physical changes in the region have opened up the prospects of new shipping routes, access to mineral resources and fisheries, opportunities for scientific research, and the accompanying risks to a fragile environment, to aboriginal ways of life, and to national and international security.
Most immediately affected by these changes are the states bordering on the region - Canada, the United States, Russia, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark (and, by association with the last three, the European Union). But while there is no parallel here to the Antarctic's status as a "common heritage" of humanity insulated from territorial claims, states from well outside the region have asserted - if only through symbolic actions - their national interest in its scientific and environmental prospects, its security and, above all, its resources. Transnational corporations, NGOs and other non-state actors, as well as international organizations such as the Arctic Council and NATO, also crowd onto the stage. And the voices of the aboriginal peoples, in both national and international fora, are being heard as never before.
Most of the states ringing the Arctic have, in recent years, begun to develop strategic visions to frame or accompany the mix of social, cultural, environmental and economic policies through which they have sought to manage their sectors of the region, including their territorial waters. Abundant evidence of well-established cooperation among them has, in recent years, come to be overshadowed by rhetoric of rivalry and conflict, usually focused on territorial claims. Accompanying these competing national interests are varying understandings of security in the region, from narrowly military to comprehensive, and from national to multilateral. For the armed forces of Canada and the United States, therefore, the Arctic poses a set of questions transcending those that challenged them during the Cold War.
The conference deliberated on these questions through four panels, interspersed with keynote speakers who introduced and highlighted the major issues. This conference was hosted and organized by Queen's Centre for International Relations (QCIR), and The Defence Management Studies Program at Queen's, together with the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College (USAWC), and the Canadian Land Forces Doctrine and Training System (LFDTS).
Documents
KCIS 2011 Program [PDF 1.0mb]
KCIS 2011 Proceedings Report [PDF 462kb]
Presentations
Panel 1: Conflict and Cooperation: The Geo-politics of the Arctic
Professor Stéphane Roussel, Université du Québec à Montréal
The Geopolitics of the Arctic: Competing Models of Governance [PDF 764 kb]Dr. Suzanne Lalonde, Université de Montréal
International Law: A Stabilizing Force in the Arctic? [PDF 487 kb]
Panel 2: Sovereignty: Borders and Security
Dr. Rob Huebert, University of Calgary
The Resolution of Boundary Issues in the Arctic is Only the Beginning.... [PDF 1.2 mb]Niklas Granholm, Swedish Defence Research Agency
Sovereignty: Borders and Security in a New Arctic [PDF 1.1 mb]Dr. Lassi Heininen, University of Lapland, Finland
Changes on Northern Geopolitics: from a Frontier (of Confrontation) to a Region of Peace [PDF 4.1 mb]
Panel 3: The Rush for Resources: Costs and Benefits
Peter Slaiby, Vice President, Shell Oil Alaska Venture
Shell Global Arctic Portfolio [PDF 189kb]Professor Marianne Douglas, Canadian Circumpolar Institute, University of Alberta
The Rush for Resources: Did Berger and Norway get it Right? [PDF 2.6mb]
Panel 4: Stepping into the Future
Dr. Andrea Charron, Carleton University and the Royal Military College of Canada
2013 and Beyond: North America and the Arctic Council [PDF 652kb]Peter J.V.C. de Groot, Queen's University
Polar Bears and Sovereignty: A Case Study of a Unique Research and Military Collaboration [PDF 3.4mb]
Keynotes: