Andreas Østhagen
This is the second of two chapters that will take a closer look at the national level, or the bottom-up approach, to security dynamics in the Arctic. All states are not equal. There is obviously a difference between a global superpower of almost 350 million people and Norway, with the population of 5.5 million people. Still, both are states, both are in the Arctic, and both face geographically determined security issues in their immediate Arctic domain. It is thus both highly relevant and instructive to compare how these two states have approached their respective Arctic security dynamics. US interest in Arctic security affairs over the last two decades has been a conundrum, going from relative disinterest to making use of the Arctic in global rivalry with China.