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Arctic Yearbook 2015
This is seen for example, in how the Kingdom of Denmark and Russian Federation played, and play,
according to the rules of UNCLOS, when they submitted their proposals on the Arctic Ocean’s
shelves to the Commission – the proposals compete, the states cooperate. This shows the power of
immaterial values, such as peace, human capital and that of cumulative, ‘soft’ methods in politics and
governance (which is seen for example, by the self-governing status of Greenland, Nordic devolution,
policy-shaping by the Arctic Council, paradiplomacy, and implementation of the interplay between
science and politics). These are among the ways that we have managed to maintain the received state
of political stability and willingness to cooperate, much needed preconditions for sustaining Arctic
research.
This goes a long way to demonstrating the social relevance of science, which is also called ‘science
diplomacy’, i.e. that science is more than laboratories and theories, it is people, societies, the
environment. This includes the interplay between science, politics and economics, and this has been
implemented in the Arctic for some time now. The International Meeting of Representatives of the
States-Members of the Arctic Council, States-Observers and Foreign Scientific Community is a good
example of a platform, where it is both intended to happen, and it is happening. This clearly came out
in several presentations and comments, though there was too little time for open discussion (this
seems to be a universal ‘bottleneck’ for the sharing of thoughts and ideas), as well as in smaller social
contacts during the two days.
A new Arctic security and political agenda is emerging due to the reflections of regional wars, the
constant warfare against international terror, and flows of globalization, as well as due to ‘Grand
challenges’ as main drivers, such as long-range pollution and climate change, and ethical questions
concerning mass-scale utilization. Here the Arctic states and their state-owned enterprises will strongly
influence future development by choosing either to prioritize business activities only, or adopt a more
holistic approach by taking into consideration the commitments to environmental protection and
wellbeing of the inhabitants, as the Arctic states promised almost 20 years ago, when the Arctic
Council was established.
The answer cannot, however, be simply more mass-scale utilization by extractive industries, but also
smaller and soft ways, as many Arctic actors have shown being able to be innovative and resilient. For
that we need on the one hand, more and deeper interdisciplinary research, and on the other hand,
keener cooperation between policy-makers from the Arctic states and the AC Observer states under
the auspices of the Arctic Council. Now when the post-Cold War era has come to a close in the Arctic,
and the region has becom e a part of global (political, economic, technological, environmental and
societal) changes, this is not enough, I am afraid. Hence, it has become more demanding to maintain
this stability and strengthen cooperation. We need more meetings, such as the 2015 Archangelsk
meeting and the annual Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik, where the interplay between science,
politics and economics/business takes place.
International Meeting of AC Member States in Arkhangelsk