Arctic Doom, Arctic Boom; The Geopolitics of Climate Change in the Arctic
Gordon Wiltsie (Cover photograph) and Ty Milford ( Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger [An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC], 2009. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. xi, [1], 232, [4] pages. Foreword by Walter J. Hickel, former Governor of Alaska. Foreword by Daniel J. Moran. Notes. Bibliography. Index. This is one of the Security and the Environment series. An expert examination of the way climate change is transforming the Arctic environmentally, economically, and geopolitically, and how the challenges of that transformation should be met. It includes a lengthy bibliography of resources on the Arctic and its history including materials as current as September 2009. It offers a helpful index of key terms as well as 59 pages of references and bibliographic details. Barry Scott Zellen is an independent scholar specializing in Arctic geopolitics, international relations, and the tribal foundations of world order, and the founder of both "constructive realism" and "fourth image theory" in the field of international relations theory. Zellen's early research and writing focused on the Western Arctic region, where he lived during the 1990s while managing several northern, Aboriginal language media organizations funded by the Northern Native Broadcast Access Program (NNBAP), and occasionally developing and teaching college courses on Arctic land claims for Arctic College (now Aurora College) in Yellowknife, NWT and the Center for Northern Studies (CNS) in Wolcott, VT. In more recent years, Zellen's research has shifted from focusing exclusively on the Arctic region to include numerous indigenous peoples of the Pacific for a more global and comparative understanding of the role of tribal polities in international relations, from Oceania to the Arctic. Derived from a book review published in 2011 published by Polar Record: In Arctic doom, Arctic boom Barry Scott Zellen, research director of the Arctic Security Project at the Center for Contemporary Conflict at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, argues that the Arctic ‘often display[s] a seemingly paradoxical blend of competition and collaboration’. What is often lacking in the debate on the future Arctic is a multilevel approach to the region, putting emphasis on both the international structures and the domestic level. Zellen's work is both timely and intriguing. The Arctic is at the top of the agenda amongst both politicians and academics, and Zellen offers new thinking on the subject. His point of departure is that the long awaited ‘Age of the Arctic’ predicted by Oran Young in 1986 ‘is coming, and coming fast.’ The book consists of six chapters. In chapter 1 the broad picture is painted with emphasis on climate change. Zellen gives the reader a short introduction to some of the theoretical concepts and ideas applied in the coming chapters. In chapter 2 the author turns to a more theoretical analysis of Arctic sovereignty and security. While drawing on insight from the field of geopolitics and international relations it is also stated that the external dimension is just one part of the picture. The region is multinational and multiethnic and both ‘internal’ and ‘external’ forces of change must be taken into consideration. In this chapter the focus is on geopolitical characteristics of the region. Chapter 3 addresses the ‘inexorable drive to develop the Arctic or what is referred to as the ‘Arctic imperative’, discussing among other matters, property rights of local inhabitants. Zellen claims that the real threat comes from outsiders ‘who see the Arctic as ...a colony’. In chapter 4, the author returns to a more global perspective on the region, putting emphasis on the strategic repercussions of the melting ice. Drawing on the concept of geopolitics, Zellen considers the profound impact a declining ice cap will have in this respect. In chapter 5 the author asks if conflict is inevitable in the ‘race to stake’ undersea claims. In this chapter the author also discusses the question of winners and losers of climate change, claiming that ‘the people of the Arctic could be the winners of climate change – after they adapt to the new seasonal patterns and rebuild on drier ground.’ In the last chapter entitled ‘The End of the Arctic’ the local perspective is again in the forefront in his concluding reflections. The author addresses the challenges Arctic people and environment will meet due to rapid climate change. However, in the concluding section the opportunities are in the forefront. Zellen engages in one of the central debates in the post cold war era. How will the future Arctic look like? He is quite optimistic regarding the future of Arctic. The book is a central contribution to the debate on the future of the Arctic. Condition: Very good / Very good.
Keywords: Arctic, Geopolitics, Climate Change, Cold War, Alaska, Deterrence, Walter Hickel, Ilulissat Conference, Inuit, Lenaland, North Pole, Northwest Passage, Polar Region, Natural Resources, Daniel Moran
ISBN: 9780313380129
[Book #85785]
Price: $125.00