Arctic geopoetics: Russian politics at the North Pole
The article develops a geopoetic approach to Russian Arctic politics. It rests on the empirical observation that due to climate change, the Arctic landscape is undergoing profound transformations, which has led to multilateral governance efforts but also unilateral pursuits. In this general heteroge...
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crsagepubl:10.1177/0010836718815526 2024-06-23T07:49:11+00:00 Arctic geopoetics: Russian politics at the North Pole Hansen-Magnusson, Hannes British International Studies Association Cardiff University 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0010836718815526 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0010836718815526 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/0010836718815526 en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license Cooperation and Conflict volume 54, issue 4, page 466-487 ISSN 0010-8367 1460-3691 journal-article 2018 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/0010836718815526 2024-06-11T04:30:59Z The article develops a geopoetic approach to Russian Arctic politics. It rests on the empirical observation that due to climate change, the Arctic landscape is undergoing profound transformations, which has led to multilateral governance efforts but also unilateral pursuits. In this general heterogeneity, Russia’s policies have raised the most pressing questions regarding the country’s motivations to engage in the region. Cultural approaches to global politics are most suitable to create holistic understandings and explanations in this regard, but they lack discussing a spatial dimension of Russian identity. By developing a geopoetic account, the article complements this research through methodological insights from critical geography. Geopoetics focuses on the cultural roots and their cognitive-emotional dimension, on the basis of which claims to the Arctic and related policies resonate with a broader audience. The article argues that Russian policies have their foundation in a utopian ideal of Soviet socialist realism that was widely popularised in the 1920s and later decades. Applying the hermeneutic tool of topos, the article highlights that three features stand out that interweave into a coherent imaginary of the Arctic: first, the heroic explorer; second, the conquest of nature; and third, the role of science and technology. Analysts would do well to bear in mind how the Arctic becomes intelligible when commenting on policies. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change North Pole SAGE Publications Arctic North Pole Cooperation and Conflict 54 4 466 487 |
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English |
description |
The article develops a geopoetic approach to Russian Arctic politics. It rests on the empirical observation that due to climate change, the Arctic landscape is undergoing profound transformations, which has led to multilateral governance efforts but also unilateral pursuits. In this general heterogeneity, Russia’s policies have raised the most pressing questions regarding the country’s motivations to engage in the region. Cultural approaches to global politics are most suitable to create holistic understandings and explanations in this regard, but they lack discussing a spatial dimension of Russian identity. By developing a geopoetic account, the article complements this research through methodological insights from critical geography. Geopoetics focuses on the cultural roots and their cognitive-emotional dimension, on the basis of which claims to the Arctic and related policies resonate with a broader audience. The article argues that Russian policies have their foundation in a utopian ideal of Soviet socialist realism that was widely popularised in the 1920s and later decades. Applying the hermeneutic tool of topos, the article highlights that three features stand out that interweave into a coherent imaginary of the Arctic: first, the heroic explorer; second, the conquest of nature; and third, the role of science and technology. Analysts would do well to bear in mind how the Arctic becomes intelligible when commenting on policies. |
author2 |
British International Studies Association Cardiff University |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hansen-Magnusson, Hannes |
spellingShingle |
Hansen-Magnusson, Hannes Arctic geopoetics: Russian politics at the North Pole |
author_facet |
Hansen-Magnusson, Hannes |
author_sort |
Hansen-Magnusson, Hannes |
title |
Arctic geopoetics: Russian politics at the North Pole |
title_short |
Arctic geopoetics: Russian politics at the North Pole |
title_full |
Arctic geopoetics: Russian politics at the North Pole |
title_fullStr |
Arctic geopoetics: Russian politics at the North Pole |
title_full_unstemmed |
Arctic geopoetics: Russian politics at the North Pole |
title_sort |
arctic geopoetics: russian politics at the north pole |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0010836718815526 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0010836718815526 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/0010836718815526 |
geographic |
Arctic North Pole |
geographic_facet |
Arctic North Pole |
genre |
Arctic Climate change North Pole |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change North Pole |
op_source |
Cooperation and Conflict volume 54, issue 4, page 466-487 ISSN 0010-8367 1460-3691 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0010836718815526 |
container_title |
Cooperation and Conflict |
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54 |
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4 |
container_start_page |
466 |
op_container_end_page |
487 |
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1802639468912443392 |