Arkties klausimas Šiaurės regiono valstybių politikoje. JAV ir Kanados pozicijų palyginimas

• Main Author: Bankauskaitė, Inga
• Other Authors: Liekis, Šarūnas
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: Lithuanian; English
• Published: Institutional Repository of Vytautas Magnus University 2014
• Subjects: international relations; Canada; USA; Arctic; foreign policy; Norway; glacier*; Global warming
• Online Access: http://vdu.oai.elaba.lt/documents/2011528.pdf; http://vdu.lvb.lt/VDU:ELABAETD2011528&prefLang=en_US

For a long time due to a severe weather conditions, invincible layer of ice and snow, the Arctic has been difficult to reach and was only attending the attention of scientists and researchers in various expeditions. Now, because of the ongoing global warming, the glaciers began to melt and because of this, the territory, which was for a long time uncharted – became more readily available to all applicants. In recent years, the main Arctic nations (Canada, USA, Russia, Denmark and Norway) have stated their claims to the Arctic area. One of the largest countries in this dispute are the United States and Canada. The subject of this paper is the Arctic policy of Canada and United States. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the main similarities and differences between the Canadian and the U.S. Arctic positions. In order to achieve this, five main aspects are explored: to analyze the Canadian domestic and foreign policies, economic indicators and trends in order to show the country's place in the world power hierarchy; analyze and briefly present U.S. national politics, economics and the main objectives of the foreign policy; compare formally presented aims and objectives of the U.S. and Canada in the Arctic; discover the main points of disagreement between the U.S. and Canadian Arctic policy; submit the possible perspectives of Arctic territory, and their potential impact on the U.S. and Canadian relations. The defendant statement/hypothesis of this paper is: in spite of the friendly and peaceful relations between Canada and United states, the aims and objectives of the two countries in the Arctic are quite different, and this may influence further development of relations between the neighbouring countries. Available resources in the country are often influenced by the geopolitical situation. Canada is the second largest country in the world by the area, and has many natural resources, and is strategically in a very safe place. The most important country to Canada is its neighbour, world superpower U.S., and most political decisions are applied specifically to the latter's interests. Despite the peaceful relations, the Arctic policy of these countries is significantly different. Canada is interested in the maintenance of existing areas, moderate use of resources without harming environment. Meanwhile the interests of the USA are the maintenance of the maritime border with Russia and the extraction of the mineral resources. The confrontation between the neighbouring countries may influence further development of relations between them.