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Polar Partners or Poles Apart? On the discourses of two US think tanks on Russia's presence in the ‘High North’
Author(s) -
VAN EFFERINK LEONHARDT A S
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the geographical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.071
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1475-4959
pISSN - 0016-7398
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4959.2011.00433.x
Subject(s) - diplomacy , institution , arctic , political science , the arctic , order (exchange) , constructive , foreign policy , corporate governance , political economy , law , public administration , sociology , economics , management , politics , oceanography , finance , process (computing) , computer science , geology , operating system
The discourses of two US think tanks show how representations of the Artic could make the difference between either an inclusionary or exclusionary Arctic regime. The Brookings Institution stresses that Russia's foreign policy focuses on international law and diplomacy; and recommends multilateral initiatives to address regional tensions. However, the Heritage Foundation emphasises Russia's willingness to use military force and strong language when dealing with Arctic matters, recommends ‘a strong response’ to Russia's policies and stresses the importance of ‘Western’ alliances. The comparison of discourses on the Arctic of two US think tanks lends support to the idea that geographers should play a prominent role in the debate on a regional governance framework. A constructive way to do so is by highlighting and explaining the region's complexity and uncertainty, in order to limit the (re)construction of degeographicalised representations of the Arctic in policy circles.