Imagining the Arctic, the Russian Way: Concepts and Projects for the Arctic Ocean in the Eighteenth Century

Winkler Martina ()
Additional contact information
Winkler Martina: Department of Politics, History and International Relations, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK

New Global Studies, 2013, vol. 7, issue 2, 73-100

Abstract: Few historical topics and regions lend themselves to such grand narratives as the Arctic. Dramatic landscapes, extreme climate, heroic explorers and their national pride merge and provide us with fascinating and catchy stories. The current situation of climate change, new possibilities of exploiting natural resources and potential territorial conflict have placed the Arctic in the spotlight once more. Current tensions often call for historical explanation, and scholars hurry to provide them. My perspective on eighteenth century Russian concepts of the Arctic Ocean, however, does not immediately contribute to a better understanding of present challenges. I will not be telling the Russian side of the story in the race among nations to the North Pole or explain how the Russians came to plant a flag under the Pole in 2007. The argument in this article stems rather from a general and explicitly historical interest in territoriality and sovereignty; in concepts, consequences and contradictions. How could absolutist sovereignty, which in the eighteenth century was sovereignty in the making, work “beyond territory”?

Keywords: Arctic; Russia; maps (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1515/ngs-2013-010 (text/html)
For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.

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:bpj:nglost:v:7:y:2013:i:2:p:73-100:n:1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/ngs/html

DOI: 10.1515/ngs-2013-010

Access Statistics for this article

New Global Studies is currently edited by Nayan Chanda, Akira Iriye and Saskia Sassen

More articles in New Global Studies from De Gruyter
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().