NATO’s Securitisation of Climate Change in the Arctic

• Published in: Güvenlik Stratejileri Dergisi
• Main Authors: Sevgi Balkan Şahin, Özge Çetiner
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: German; English; French; Turkish
• Published: Milli Savunma Üniversitesi 2024
• Subjects: nato; climate change; social constructivism; copenhagen school; organizational identity; Military Science; U; Climate change
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.17752/guvenlikstrtj.1430911; https://doaj.org/article/e1c2ef7f3f9a4bb2b74506f8cdd04d48

This study analyses how and why the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) securitises climate change in the Arctic. The study recognises that climate change has not only endangered the environmental security of the Arctic but has also intensified geopolitical competition over the region’s resources and trade routes as a threat multiplier. Regarding the impact of the changing structure of the region from the “cooperation front” to the “competition area”, the study reveals that NATO considers climate change as a part of the collective defence dimension of its organizational identity, along with increasing geopolitical competition, to develop an integrated approach in its Arctic policy. Drawing on the Copenhagen School and social constructivism, the study presents that NATO resorts to securitisation discourses that concretise the threat to address climate change within the scope of its organizational identity.