Freedom of Navigation in the Arctic: Options for Deterring Russia's Excessive Maritime Claims
As climate change opens up new lanes of international commerce from melting sea ice in the Arctic, the region has growing importance to American strategy. The newly viable Northern Sea Route (NSR) through the Arctic Ocean around Russia will prove to be one of the 21st century’s most important commer...
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ftjhuniv:oai:jscholarship.library.jhu.edu:1774.2/66913 2023-09-26T15:13:05+02:00 Freedom of Navigation in the Arctic: Options for Deterring Russia's Excessive Maritime Claims Sims, Michael "Mac" 2022-05 application/pdf http://jhir.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/66913 en_US eng http://jhir.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/66913 maritime claims arctic FONOP Other 2022 ftjhuniv 2023-08-28T18:02:40Z As climate change opens up new lanes of international commerce from melting sea ice in the Arctic, the region has growing importance to American strategy. The newly viable Northern Sea Route (NSR) through the Arctic Ocean around Russia will prove to be one of the 21st century’s most important commercial routes as the fastest way to move goods between the North Atlantic and the North Pacific. However, the Russian Federation has made excessive maritime claims, claiming that most of the NSR is an internal waterway, and enforcing a stringent regulatory regime on any vessel wishing to make the transit. This paper presents the option of conducting Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOP) in the Arctic to deter excessive Russian claims and to reassure the United States’ allies of a commitment to preserving a rules-based order in the Arctic. This study analyzes the history of Russian maritime claims and the efficacy of the larger FONOP program, using FONOPs in the South China Sea as a case study to generate a pro and con policy analysis framework. Based on these factors, this paper concludes that the US should begin FONOPs through the Arctic within the next five years, accomplishing the stated policy goal with the most limited military escalation possible. Furthermore, since the commercial activity in the Arctic will only increase over time, this study finds that waiting to tackle this problem only increases the costs associated with finding a solution in the long term. Other/Unknown Material Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change North Atlantic Northern Sea Route Sea ice Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore: JScholarship Arctic Arctic Ocean Lanes ENVELOPE(18.933,18.933,69.617,69.617) Pacific |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore: JScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftjhuniv |
language |
English |
topic |
maritime claims arctic FONOP |
spellingShingle |
maritime claims arctic FONOP Sims, Michael "Mac" Freedom of Navigation in the Arctic: Options for Deterring Russia's Excessive Maritime Claims |
topic_facet |
maritime claims arctic FONOP |
description |
As climate change opens up new lanes of international commerce from melting sea ice in the Arctic, the region has growing importance to American strategy. The newly viable Northern Sea Route (NSR) through the Arctic Ocean around Russia will prove to be one of the 21st century’s most important commercial routes as the fastest way to move goods between the North Atlantic and the North Pacific. However, the Russian Federation has made excessive maritime claims, claiming that most of the NSR is an internal waterway, and enforcing a stringent regulatory regime on any vessel wishing to make the transit. This paper presents the option of conducting Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOP) in the Arctic to deter excessive Russian claims and to reassure the United States’ allies of a commitment to preserving a rules-based order in the Arctic. This study analyzes the history of Russian maritime claims and the efficacy of the larger FONOP program, using FONOPs in the South China Sea as a case study to generate a pro and con policy analysis framework. Based on these factors, this paper concludes that the US should begin FONOPs through the Arctic within the next five years, accomplishing the stated policy goal with the most limited military escalation possible. Furthermore, since the commercial activity in the Arctic will only increase over time, this study finds that waiting to tackle this problem only increases the costs associated with finding a solution in the long term. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Sims, Michael "Mac" |
author_facet |
Sims, Michael "Mac" |
author_sort |
Sims, Michael "Mac" |
title |
Freedom of Navigation in the Arctic: Options for Deterring Russia's Excessive Maritime Claims |
title_short |
Freedom of Navigation in the Arctic: Options for Deterring Russia's Excessive Maritime Claims |
title_full |
Freedom of Navigation in the Arctic: Options for Deterring Russia's Excessive Maritime Claims |
title_fullStr |
Freedom of Navigation in the Arctic: Options for Deterring Russia's Excessive Maritime Claims |
title_full_unstemmed |
Freedom of Navigation in the Arctic: Options for Deterring Russia's Excessive Maritime Claims |
title_sort |
freedom of navigation in the arctic: options for deterring russia's excessive maritime claims |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://jhir.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/66913 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(18.933,18.933,69.617,69.617) |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Lanes Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Lanes Pacific |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change North Atlantic Northern Sea Route Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change North Atlantic Northern Sea Route Sea ice |
op_relation |
http://jhir.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/66913 |
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1778133548963725312 |