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Arctic Circle
  • Apr 7, 2022
  • 3-4:30 pm (GMT)

International Cooperation to Increase Arctic Security

The Arctic Circle Mission Council on the GlobalArctic hosted the first-ever Arctic Circle Webcast Session discussing international cooperation in the Arctic to increase security in the area.

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The concept of "high latitudes - low tension" has been repeated in numerous statements, policies, and speeches to a great extent due to the fact that there have been no regional armed conflicts in the post-Cold War Arctic. Analysis into this concept is however lacking.

Behind this statement lies the paradigm shift from military tension (of the Cold War) to political stability due to growing concerns about environmental degradation. Functional cooperation with flexible agendas, on environmental protection and science, were defined as important elements for confidence-building and better governance. Being mutually beneficial, these common interests were followed by increasing geopolitical stability and cooperation between parties.

The GlobalArctic Mission Council hosted this first Arctic Circle Webcast Session to discuss the role of international, functional cooperation as means to increase security of the Arctic region. This discussion is particularly important in these unprecedented times of world politics to analyze the process and benefits of functional Arctic cooperation, and uphold the dialogue among academics.

Speakers:

  • Dr. Heather Exner-Pirot, Managing Editor of Arctic Yearbook and member of the Arctic Circle Mission Council on GlobalArctic
  • Prof. Lassi Heininen, Chair of the Arctic Circle Mission Council on GlobalArctic

Heather Exner-Pirot

Director of Energy, Natural Resources and Environment program at Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Canada

Heather Exner-Pirot is the Managing Editor of the Arctic Yearbook. She is a Board member of the Saskatchewan Indigenous Economic Development Network, The Arctic Institute, and the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation. She is a member of the GlobalArctic Mission Council and former chair of the Canadian Northern Studies Trust. She has previously held positions at the University of Saskatchewan, the International Centre for Northern Governance and Development and the University of the Arctic, and completed her doctoral degree in political science at the University of Calgary in 2011.

Her current research interests include Indigenous and northern economic development.

Lassi Heininen

Professor (Emeritus) & Visiting Researcher at Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland

Dr. Lassi Heininen is Professor emeritus, Visiting Researcher at Aleksanteri Institute of the University of Helsinki, Editor of Arctic Yearbook, Chair of GlobalArctic Mission Council of the Arctic Circle and Leader of UArctic TN on Geopolitics & Security.

His research fields include IR, Geopolitics, Security Studies, Environmental Politics, Northern European & Arctic Studies. He supervises several PhD candidates, speaks in international gatherings, and acts as a reviewer for international journals & publications.

Among his recent publications are ”Geopolitical Features, Common Interests and the Climate Crisis: The Case of the Arctic” in Geneva Paper 35/24; ”Comprehensive Security” in Towards a Sustainable Arctic (WSPC 2023); “The Post-Cold War Arctic” in Global Arctic (Springer 2022); “Climate Change and the Great Power Rivalry” in Insight Turkey (2022); “Asevarainen turvallisuus – ympäristöllinen turvattomuus” in Ukrainan sota ja maailma sen jälkeen (Vastapaino 2022).

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