A Reluctant Arctic Power No More? The United States’ Evolving Engagement with the High North

George Soroka ()
Additional contact information
George Soroka: Harvard University

A chapter in Arctic Fever, 2022, pp 193-240 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter examines the United States’ evolving Arctic policy, both as a function of the change in presidential administration that took place in January 2021 and Washington’s increasing expressions of concern over Russian and Chinese activities in the High North. The U.S. Arctic (via Alaska) has historically been a largely overlooked region; even during the Cold War, when it played a key role in North America’s defense, the Arctic was regarded as but one spatial element of a broader geopolitical strategy. Despite this, the United States has recently begun paying closer attention to this region, in part due to Moscow’s re-militarization of its Arctic zone and Beijing’s growing interest in the northern cryosphere. However, in contrast to pundits who believe that such activity augurs the advent of a new “cold war,” herein it is argued that the most pressing challenges facing the Arctic are climatic rather than strategic (though the two are obviously interrelated). Contextualized in terms of the rapid physical transformations the High North has undergone in recent years, this text successively considers: (1) climate change and the environment; (2) developing security challenges; (3) emerging economic factors; (4) northern Alaska’s indigenous inhabitants; and (5) regional scientific research. It concludes by summarizing the current situation in the U.S. Arctic.

Keywords: Arctic; USA; High North; Alaska; Biden; Trump (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-981-16-9616-9_9

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9789811696169

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-16-9616-9_9

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().