Evolving Arctic Security Architecture Towards a Cooperative One

• Main Authors: Mehmet Ali Uğur, Adnal Dal
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Turkish
• Published: International Journal of Politic and Security 2021
• Subjects: cold war; arctic; national security; cooperative security; Political science (General); JA1-92; Arctic; Murmansk; Arctic Council
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/0ea2b11e9007423ea34c6f9f87ad33bb

Ever since it emerged as another remote Cold War battlefield, the discourse regarding Arctic security has gone through a considerable change in both scope and depth. While this inhospitable environment was once only assessed as a rather insignificant element of the national security and sovereignty calculations of the two blocs throughout the Cold War era, such traditional perception of state-level relations has been shifting to a different plane in recent decades. This article examines the nature of this transforming security architecture of the Arctic from a competitive to a cooperative one in the last three decades. It goes on to evaluate the ‘broad security perception’ from the lens of three significant initiatives: the Murmansk Speech, the intended mandate of the Arctic Council, and economic development priorities spelled out by all Arctic states in their national strategies pertaining to the Arctic. The study, thus, concludes that unlike classical security formulations of the Cold War years, an enhanced and all-inclusive cooperative security concept will eventually pave the way for a solid and sustainable region-wide regime as societal, environmental, human, and economic security concerns have been escalating to the top of the priority list in the region alongside with national security perceptions of states.