Russia's strategy in the Arctic: cooperation, not confrontation
ABSTRACT Russia's strategy in the Arctic is dominated by two overriding international relations (IR) discourses – or foreign policy directions. On the one hand, there is an IR-realism/geopolitical discourse that puts security first and often has a clear patriotic character, dealing with ‘explor...
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0032247417000158 2024-10-06T13:45:14+00:00 Russia's strategy in the Arctic: cooperation, not confrontation Staun, Jørgen 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247417000158 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247417000158 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Polar Record volume 53, issue 3, page 314-332 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 journal-article 2017 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247417000158 2024-09-11T04:04:29Z ABSTRACT Russia's strategy in the Arctic is dominated by two overriding international relations (IR) discourses – or foreign policy directions. On the one hand, there is an IR-realism/geopolitical discourse that puts security first and often has a clear patriotic character, dealing with ‘exploring’, ‘winning’ or ‘conquering’ the Arctic and putting power, including military power, behind Russia's national interests in the area. Opposed to this is an IR-liberalism, international law-inspired and modernisation-focused discourse, which puts cooperation first and emphasises ‘respect for international law’, ‘negotiation’ and ‘cooperation’, and labels the Arctic as a ‘territory of dialogue’, arguing that the Arctic states all benefit the most if they cooperate peacefully. After a short but very visible media stunt in 2007 and subsequent public debate by proponents of the IR-realism/geopolitical side, the IR-liberalism discourse has been dominating Russian policy in the Arctic since around 2008–2009, following a pragmatic decision by the Kremlin to let the Foreign Ministry and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov take the lead in the Arctic. The question asked here is how solid is this IR-liberalist-dominated Arctic policy? Can it withstand the pressure from more patriotic minded parts of the Russian establishment? Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Polar Record Cambridge University Press Arctic Polar Record 53 3 314 332 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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English |
description |
ABSTRACT Russia's strategy in the Arctic is dominated by two overriding international relations (IR) discourses – or foreign policy directions. On the one hand, there is an IR-realism/geopolitical discourse that puts security first and often has a clear patriotic character, dealing with ‘exploring’, ‘winning’ or ‘conquering’ the Arctic and putting power, including military power, behind Russia's national interests in the area. Opposed to this is an IR-liberalism, international law-inspired and modernisation-focused discourse, which puts cooperation first and emphasises ‘respect for international law’, ‘negotiation’ and ‘cooperation’, and labels the Arctic as a ‘territory of dialogue’, arguing that the Arctic states all benefit the most if they cooperate peacefully. After a short but very visible media stunt in 2007 and subsequent public debate by proponents of the IR-realism/geopolitical side, the IR-liberalism discourse has been dominating Russian policy in the Arctic since around 2008–2009, following a pragmatic decision by the Kremlin to let the Foreign Ministry and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov take the lead in the Arctic. The question asked here is how solid is this IR-liberalist-dominated Arctic policy? Can it withstand the pressure from more patriotic minded parts of the Russian establishment? |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Staun, Jørgen |
spellingShingle |
Staun, Jørgen Russia's strategy in the Arctic: cooperation, not confrontation |
author_facet |
Staun, Jørgen |
author_sort |
Staun, Jørgen |
title |
Russia's strategy in the Arctic: cooperation, not confrontation |
title_short |
Russia's strategy in the Arctic: cooperation, not confrontation |
title_full |
Russia's strategy in the Arctic: cooperation, not confrontation |
title_fullStr |
Russia's strategy in the Arctic: cooperation, not confrontation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Russia's strategy in the Arctic: cooperation, not confrontation |
title_sort |
russia's strategy in the arctic: cooperation, not confrontation |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247417000158 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247417000158 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Polar Record |
genre_facet |
Arctic Polar Record |
op_source |
Polar Record volume 53, issue 3, page 314-332 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247417000158 |
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Polar Record |
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53 |
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3 |
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314 |
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332 |
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1812173631659180032 |