Squaring the Circle : The Arctic States, “Law of the Sea,” and the Arctic Ocean

• Main Author: Dodds, Klaus
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University
• Subjects: 290; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Ilulissat; Arctic Council; Ilulissat Declaration; Law of the Sea
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2115/57849

Two competing conceptions of the Arctic Ocean have circulated since the infamous planting of a Russian flag on the bottom of the seabed in 2007. Ideas of a “scramble for territory” depended on accepting that the Arctic Ocean was a terra nullius, that is, belonging to no one. The Danish-sponsored Ilulissat Declaration of May 2008 was an explicit rejection of that Arctic vision. Using the Law of the Sea, it outlined the sovereign rights of the five coastal states. The Declaration was an important pre-emptive strike against growing global interest in the Arctic, and a determination to re-territorialize the Arctic Ocean. The Arctic Council, as the leading inter-governmental organization, remains critical in helping to mediate politically the interests of Arctic and non-Arctic parties.