Marlene Laruelle - Russias Arctic Strategies and the Future of the Far North

Russias
Arctic
Strategies
and the
Future of
the
Far North

Marlene Laruelle

First published 2014 by M.E. Sharpe

Published 2015 by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Laruelle, Marlene, author.

Russias Arctic strategies and the future of the Far North/by Marlene Laruelle.

pages : maps ; cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7656-3500-6 (hardcover: alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-7656-3501-3 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Russia, NorthernStrategic aspects. 2. GeopoliticsRussia, Northern. 3. Arctic Coast (Russia)Strategic aspects. 4. GeopoliticsRussia (Federation)Arctic Coast. I. Title.

ISBN 13: 9780765635013 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 9780765635006 (hbk)

Long dismissed as a frozen wasteland, the Arctic has recently come under increasing scrutiny, for better and for worse. Moving from the realm of the unknown to the known, from the marginal to at times central, it has been bumped up to front-page treatment, replete with superlatives: the most northerly region, the coldest one, the region with the longest nights and longest days, the worlds most fragile ecosystem, the region richest in hydrocarbons, and so on. The hype is often backed up with multiple historical references, as though the new configurations of the twenty-first century need to be explained in familiar terms in order to be understood. Strategic issues are thus framed using historical journalistic parallels. These include the conquest of the West (Arctic as the New Western Frontier), the Cold War (the Ice Cold War), or the Great Game in Central Asia at the end of the nineteenth century (Arctic as the New Great Game). The economic drivers, often presented without taking into account changes in the market, new technologies, and knowledge of private actors, are evoked using the filter of the Gold Rush (the Rush to the Arctic).1

At the other end of the spectrum, that of environmental concerns, the messages target emotional sensitivity to nature and wildlife, such as a National Geographic photo of a polar bear, the quintessential symbol of the Arctic, trapped on a melting ice floe.2 Expected climate change is indeed an important driver in the global picture of the Arctic. It already heavily impacts human activities in this region and will continue to do so, either encouraging more human presence, or making the region increasingly inhospitable and unpredictable. The future of the Arctic in international affairs is not, however, limited to debates on climate change. Once the hype has ended, the Arctic will certainly remain important in world affairs. Various countries warships and submarines will continue to cross paths in the Arctic Ocean; the fragile ecosystems of local populations and wildlife will need international oversight and protection; potentially profitable exploitation of the subsoil or of water resources could begin despite extreme conditions; and use of the Trans-Arctic Air Corridor by the air traffic linking North America, Eurasia, and Asia will increase because the circumpolar route saves time and fuel. Since the publication of one of the pioneering books, The Age of the Arctic: Hot Conflicts and Cold Realities by Gail Osherenko and Oran R. Young (1989), the situation in the polar regions has drastically changed, yet the hot conflict versus cold realities paradigm remains one of the keys to understanding the current challenges in addressing Arctic issues.

The Arctic debate has several distinctive features. Like discussions on climate change, it is a globalized forum, with interested parties coming not only from North America and Europe, but also from Asia, Latin America, and Africa. The Arctic discussion is even more multidisciplinary than that on climate change, with climatologists, geographers, oceanologists, scholars from the human and social sciences, and security specialists all in the mix. The public voices on the Arctic also epitomize the wide diversity of people involved in the debate: scientific groups, indigenous communities, politicians and the military, NGOs with environmental agendas, and private business interests are all invited to hear and take into account other points of view. The growing dissonance between advocates of environmental protection and natural resource development is but one aspect, albeit the one perhaps most hyped by the media, of a broader, more complex dispute.

But the Arctic is also distinctive in the way that it stimulates our imaginations. As the last terra incognita on Earthafter the great marine depthsit is apt to evoke romantic and utopian clichs. The two poles remain still largely unknown and untamed spaces. People have their own visions of the Arctic region, influenced by readings from childhood and the accounts of the great polar expeditions of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.3 The Arctic is also eminently visual. Sometimes more than words, photos play a key role in raising public awareness and demanding respect for Mother Earth. Another striking visual element of the Arctic is maps. To understand the region, one must look at the globe from a very different and unusual angle. Visual representations have a direct impact on self-perceptions of identity, place in the world, and security. But they are also capable of distorting reality and power relations.4

A great number of arguments and viewpoints must be taken into account when discussing the Arctic. As such, collecting information is sometimes challenging. Journalistic reports are abundant, and tend to overshadow academic works, which are usually deeply rooted in their own disciplines with little cross-referencing. Interdisciplinary connections between the natural sciences, human sciences, and security studies are still largely underdeveloped. Moreover, most of the information is presented from the point of view of particular countries. American and Canadian publications are largely focused on their bilateral issues (Northwest Passage, Beaufort Sea, and Alaska), while Nordic countries and Russians focus likewise on their own regional issues. The importance of the Arctic in the transatlantic partnership is as yet rarely discussed, and Russia is conspicuous by its general absence in Western discussions. All the Arctic states have published their own strategies in regard to the Arctic, with Norway and Canada being the first, and the United States the last, but civil society pronouncements on Arctic-related subjects are almost exclusively Western. Non-Arctic states such as China also want to promote their points of view, and many international organizations are part of the picture: the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and other UN entities, NATO, the European Union, the Arctic Council, and the Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC). Everyonestates, institutions, individuals, firms, and civil societywants to participate in the Arctic narrative, making it a truly globalized issue.5