US Arctic Politics: Steady course or changing track?
Channel: Norsk utenrikspolitisk institutt NUPI
Date: 2020-09-11

The Arctic states have recently concluded four binding regional agreements – all of which have had US leadership and three of which have been co-chaired with Russia. Great power leadership has been important for building the architecture of Arctic governance we have today. The US Arctic policy community has deep roots – and a longstanding commitment to providing science-based advice as well as bringing the concerns of Alaskans to the Beltway.

How durable are these policy networks in an era of populistic domestic politics and a paralysing pandemic? The Arctic has also featured in new defense strategies – with China and Russia cited as security threats to the US in the Arctic. What are the key tenets of American Arctic security policy and how have these principles changed under the Trump Administration? What do our panellists see as the next moves in American Arctic diplomacy in the ‘international’ Arctic and during the Russian Arctic Council chairmanship?

With Karsten Friis (NUPI, chair), Rebecca Pincus (US Naval War College), Robert Orttung (George Washington University) and Mike Sfraga (Polar Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center).

This is Panel 5 of NUPI's Russia Conference 2020. Read more about the conference here: https://www.nupi.no/nupi_eng/Campaigns/NUPI-s-Russia-Conference-at-25