Preface

This book springs out of a simple and -unfortunately -increasingly relevant question: will there be conflict between states in the Arctic?When asked about my work, this is often the question I reference, as it has guided my research over the past fifteen years.Considering that question when I started doing Arctic-specific research, conflict was more or less unimaginable.Today it is not.Essentially, this book expands upon a decade of investigation into Arctic security issues, using this question as a foundational premise.Having grown up in Bodø, North Norway, just above the Arctic Circle, I had no conception of hailing from 'the Arctic'.Despite the stunning landscapes and the best football team in Norway, I wanted to leave my hometown and the Arctic as quickly as possible, seeking warmer temperatures and bigger cities.As a relatively young master's student in London in 2009, I was told that it would be smart to choose a dissertation topic 'close to home' or one linked to future aspirations.This was the exact time that the Arctic -however you want to define it -started to appear on agendas and conferences around the world, due to climatic change, resource potential, and evolving political relations.More than a decade and a half later, the Arctic's status has fluctuated between a climate change cautionary tale, a resource-rich frontier, and more recently, a symbol of great power rivalry.Today, the latter narrative predominates, although resource availability and the effects of climate change are more evident than ever.The fundamental point in this book stems from the work I did after graduating, but before turning to academia, when I represented Northern Norway in Brussels from 2010 to 2013.My role was to inform EU policymakers that the Arctic, which was starting to figure in their strategic considerations, was a complex region.Saying, as some did and still do, that we need to 'Save the Arctic' just doesn't capture that nuance or the interests of the millions of people living in the Arctic.