Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 01/2014

The Arctic and Geopolitics

David A. Welch

December 2013

Centre for International Governance Innovation

Abstract

Contrary to popular belief — and contrary to the views of many politicians and scholars — the Arctic is completely uninteresting geopolitically from a traditional national security perspective. It is somewhat more interesting geopolitically from various non-traditional security perspectives (for example, human security, cultural security, energy security, economic security and environmental security); but it is truly important only in the one respect that attracts the least attention and action from policy makers: namely, ecospheric security.