Polar Geopolitics - Arctic and Antarctic analysis

Communities in the sparsely populated Arctic already faced significant social, economic and public health challenges, and the specter of COVID-19 spreading to the circumpolar North raises a number of serious concerns. What is more, the widespread disruptions in the wake of the pandemic will hit Northern communities that depend on for instance tourism, international scientific activity and the export of natural resources particularly hard. Ilan Kelman, a Professor of Disasters and Health, joins the podcast to explain how underlying vulnerabilities in Arctic communities could lead to an array of serious consequences in the context of the coronavirus crisis.

With energy shipments rapidly expanding and apparent personal chemistry between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, the alignment of Russian and Chinese interests has caused concern in some capitols and altered the geopolitical calculus in the Arctic. But is this simply an emerging strategic partnership of convenience, which obscures a deeper level of strategic mistrust between two countries that have for centuries oscillated between being allies and adversaries? Ekaterina Klimenko analyzes the currently warming relationship between Russia—the geographic giant of the Arctic, and China—the ambitious Arctic outsider that has a yen to build a ‘polar silk road’ along the northern reaches of Eurasia. This episode also features a new segment on the podcast featuring polar historian Peder Roberts, who tells the tale of the Nazi expedition to Antarctica and Neuschwabenland, their short-lived claim on the continent.

The Northern Sea Route is central to questions of shipping, security, sovereignty, climate change and the exploitation and export of the massive energy reserves in the north of Russia, making the development of the NSR perhaps the most pivotal geopolitical issue in the Arctic this decade. It also represents a window—albeit often less than transparent—into the complexities of Russian domestic politics and the Kremlin’s intentions in the circumpolar North. Ekaterina Klimenko, an expert on Russia and the Arctic at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, joins the Polar Geopolitics podcast to share her wide-ranging analytical insights into this storied and increasingly strategic waterway in the context of contemporary Arctic and Russian geopolitics.

“The creation of polar identity is ultimately a matter of geopolitics, of the value states see in instruments and symbols that speak to polar rather than Arctic or Antarctic interests,” according to a new article entitled “Is there anything natural about the polar?”. Peder Roberts, co-author of the article, joins the Polar Geopolitics podcast to explain how the labelling of activities, issues and institutions as “polar” has long served a geopolitical purpose for states and other actors seeking to exert influence at the planetary extremes.

Responsible for all Canadian Armed Forces activity across the vast arc of northern Canada, Joint Task Force North plays a crucial role in safeguarding the North American Arctic. Polar Geopolitics is honored to welcome Brigadier General Patrick Carpentier, Commander of JTFN, for episode 20 of the podcast. BGen Carpentier discusses the main missions of JTFN and the array of challenges Canadian forces face in providing military security, engaging in crisis management and ensuring civilian safety in the Arctic at a time of significant environmental and geopolitical change, as well as increasing human activity in the Far North. He also explains the key contribution of the Canadian Rangers in securing the remote reaches of Canada’s Arctic territories.

Fresh off the 38thmeeting of CCAMLR that once again failed to achieve consensus on additional marine protected areas, the ATS might be seen as showing signs of stress amid escalating great power competition. Associate Prof. Jeffrey McGee, an expert on international law and Antarctica at the University of Tasmania, however, makes the case that the ATS is a resilient regime that 60 years after its signing remains a shining light of global governance for the area south of 60° South. On this episode, Dr. McGee applies his international legal perspective in discussing current Antarctic geopolitics, Australia’s ‘bifocal’ outlook on its neighbor to the south, and how the ATS interacts with other governance regimes at the global level. He also puts in context the CCAMLR 38 meeting that recently took place in his hometown of Hobart.

Is the Antarctic Treaty System obsolete, and could it collapse in the near future? Dr. Elizabeth Buchanan of the Australian National University explains why she is concerned that the increasing great power interest and Antarctic activity—ostensibly in the name of science—could jeopardize the almost 60-year-old ATS, and even lead to conflict if the Treaty is not updated to reflect current geopolitical realities. She also discusses Australia’s precarious situation as the state with the largest Antarctic claim (frozen under the ATS), which includes the ‘Dome A’ area where China has recently applied to create a Specially Managed Area around its Kunlun Station located there at the strategic highest point of the continent.

Environmental change in the frozen parts of the planet—the Cryosphere—have implications well beyond the polar regions and motivate much of the increased international interest in the Arctic and Antarctic. To better understand this key driver of scientific research, climate activism and geopolitical calculation, this episode of the podcast takes a deep dive into the just-released landmark IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate with Martin Sommerkorn, the coordinating lead author of the polar regions chapter of SROCC.

In the midst of an escalating diplomatic crisis between the United States and Denmark, international relations expert Prof. Paul Musgrave joins the Polar Geopolitics podcast to provide analysis, insight and an array of perspectives—American, global, historical—on Donald Trump’s interest in buying Greenland, an unfolding story that has sent shockwaves far beyond the Arctic.

Reports of Donald Trump's interest in the U.S. buying Greenland from Denmark - without doubt the most unexpected and outrageous Arctic news story in recent memory - has attracted ridicule and rapidly morphed into a diplomatic crisis. Associate Professor Jon Rahbek-Clemmensen, an expert on Denmark-Greenland-U.S. relations at the Royal Danish Defense College, joins Polar Geopolitics for an analysis of Trump's Greenland gambit and its wide-ranging ramifications on Arctic geopolitics.