The Shortest Nuclear Route to Climate Tipping Points to Great Power Competition: Tracing Arctic Security from the Cold War to Now

Arctic security has been growing in popularity across academia, policymaking, and news media. However, this popularity has come with a notable question: What does Arctic security mean, and how/what knowledges underpin it? This study traces the discourse on Arctic security from the Cold War to the present examining the emergence of different types of security which range from more traditional variants to wider and deeper readings such as environmental and comprehensive security. I identify key strands of Arctic security discourse, trace their interaction over time, and periodize the region. While the Cold War era was dominated by nuclear and traditional security logic, there have been three main shifts since then including (a) the 1990s–2007, (b) 2007–2019, and (c) 2019–present. This research finds that Arctic security knowledge follows global security trends. Thus, as security has widened and deepened globally, so too have the potential meanings of Arctic security expanded. However, there is a clear hierarchy in today’s general discourse with what issues take center stage for the Arctic such as great power competition and climate change. This is in contrast to the Arctic Council, which takes into account all but military security definitions for Arctic security and integrates them in a relatively balanced way. This has implications for ocean governance institutions and the degree to which traditional military security concerns should be left out of broader ocean governance.