Handbook on Geopolitics and Security in the Arctic (eBook)

Against the backdrop of climate change and tectonic political shifts in world politics, this handbook provides an overview of the most crucial geopolitical and security related issues in the Arctic. It discusses established shareholder's policies in the Arctic -  those of Russia, Canada, the USA, Denmark, and Norway - as well as the politics and interests of other significant or future stakeholders, including China and India. Furthermore, it explains the economic situation and the legal framework that governs the Arctic, and the claims that Arctic states have made in order to expand their territories and exclusive economic zones.

While illustrating the collaborative approach, represented by institutions such as the Arctic council, which has often been described as an exceptional institution in this region, the contributing authors examine potential resource and power conflicts between Arctic nations, due to competing interests. The authors also address topics such as changing alliances between Arctic nations, new sea lines of communication, technological shifts, and eventually the return to power politics in the area. Written by experts on international security studies and the Arctic, as well as practitioners from government institutions and international organizations, the book provides an invaluable source of information for anyone interested in geopolitical shifts and security issues in the High North.

Joachim Weber grew up in Hamburg and studied history, geography, public law and journalism at the Universities of Hamburg (Germany), Marburg (Germany) and Baylor-University (Texas, USA). He earned his M.A. with a study on German geopolitics in the world war period in Hamburg 1996.  As officer or reserves, he took part in IFOR and SFOR missions in Croatia and Bosnia in 1996/97. He earned his Ph.D. in 2000 in the field of political and economic geography at the University of Hamburg with a dissertation on the Croatian transformation towards an independent state. He later taught political geography at several universities, among them Zagreb (Croatia), Bonn (Germany) and Akron (Ohio, USA). In 2002 he joined the German federal service and held positions at Federal Office for Disaster Protection (BBK), being co-founder of a M.Sc.-program on risk governance (KaVoMa) at University of Bonn. He has worked also in Ministry of Economic Development (BMZ) and in Ministry of Economics (BMWi) with responsibility for the German maritime defense industries. In 2017 he joined the Institute for Security Policy Kiel University (ISPK, Germany) as Senior Fellow. His ongoing research is on geopolitics in the Arctic.