International cooperation in the Arctic region: a tool to defuse tensions?

• Irene Ballesteros ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad de Granada

     Universidad de Granada

     Granada, España

     
• Localización: SYbIL: Spanish yearbook of international law, ISSN 0928-0634, Nº 27, 2023, págs. 245-256
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The current war in Ukraine and the subsequent tensions between NATO and Russia have become the focus of global attention and understandable concern. Simultaneously and unbeknownst to many, this armed conflict is quickly turning the Arctic into a hot spot, thus threatening one of the most sensitive and relevant regions in the world. Plenty has been written about how the war in Ukraine is impacting international relations in the Arctic, to the point that the so-called “Arctic exceptionalism” may be coming to an end. However, it is perhaps time to ask ourselves what the Arctic can do for Ukraine and the global situation. What the Arctic equilibrium achieved hitherto could offer to de-escalate tensions in Ukraine and to defuse current global threats? If the Arctic nations have been able to maintain until recently a unique model for diplomatic, economic, environmental and social cooperation through the unparalleled body that is the Arctic Council, could it be possible for dialogue between all Arctic states (including the Russian Federation) to resume around an issue of common interest to them all in the Arctic region? Could this eventually help preventing the menacing tensions in the Arctic while also serving to de-escalate the conflict in Ukraine? The answer could be what the author of this paper calls “the Arctic Model”, a proposal for International Conflict Management based on the successful cooperative dynamics in different fields -chiefly in the science diplomacy sphere-, followed, for decades and until very recently, by the States, indigenous communities and governing institutions of the Arctic region.