This book edited by professor Heininen is an extremely valuable contribution to understanding the present situation and dynamic in the Arctic region. By gathering texts written by researchers and experts from various disciplines coming all over the Arctic region, professor Heininen offers us an engaging volume which provides multidisciplinary insight into the future perspectives of security in the Arctic region.
In the introductory part of the volume, Heininen argues that the Arctic region, characterised by high stability and intensive international cooperation, could be left out from the long list of global hot spots and considered as a human made asset. He sees no direct connections between any ongoing regional conflicts in the world and the situation in the Arctic region, only reflections and indirect impacts. The situation in the Arctic is described as one of ‘high political stability’, although the author identifies the growing and legitimate concern that it may be jeopardized as a consequence of the situations in other regions.
The second chapter of the book discusses different stages, special features and specific shift in understanding Arctic security. Heininen stresses the demystification of security issues in the Arctic – even though nuclear weaponry is present in the region, security is broadened and therefore breaks mystified national security and brings individuals and peoples to become the subjects of security. He also highlights the security dimensions of climate changes which put state sovereignty in danger but concludes that there is still no paradigmatic shift in the understanding of the concept of security due to the climate change. Author's list of major stages and special features of Arctic security is very illustrative and it helps to understand how and why the region came to have the position where it is now. In the part dealing with state policies and national strategies, Heininen introduces geopolitical issues in the discussion and identifies differences in the perception of the Arctic security between two main groups of the Arctic states. From one side, Arctic Ocean states emphasise state sovereignty and national security. From another side, non-littoral Arctic states are characterised by a more comprehensive perception of security and emphasise the importance of international cooperation as security factor in the region. He summarizes that the Arctic, although characterised by high political stability in the maintaining of which all the Arctic states are interested, is also a politically and military fragmented region regarding security issues and cannot be considered as security community. Furthermore, the shift from a traditional towards a comprehensive understanding of security has been considerably influenced by local and regional non-state actors.
Chapters that follow, five of them, give insight into various aspects of the Arctic security concern. Luszczuk gives an overview of different forms of military cooperation in the Arctic region established during previous decades and argues that this cooperation will be challenged in the near future due to conflicts in other regions of the globe. Joenniemi and Sergunin examine the use of paradiplomacy by the Russian northern subnational actors as a resource for problem-solving in various contexts and ensuring their sustainable development. The authors argue that there has been a shift in the motivation of subnational units to engage in paradiplomacy whereas it has become very pragmatic and skillful, better organized and more coordinated with state diplomacy and, consequently, state diplomacy commonly sees paradiplomacy more as common resource that an area for contention. Even though they list possible negative consequences of paradiplomacy (disintegration of single economic and cultural spaces, rise of local interest groups and the emergence of local elites which may lead towards rising of separatism finally leading towards disintegration of the country, among others), the authors conclude that paradiplomacy has an important integrative function between Russia and its neighbors and that it will play an important role in the democratization of Russia.
In his chapter, Lamy provides an insight into the US Arctic policy and examines how the Arctic fits within the overall foreign policy approach of the USA. He lists and describes the main US policy actors explaining their specific roles and interests in the Arctic region and concludes that the issue leaders that formulate and implement the Arctic policy in the US are state or public actors. He stresses that the national debate about the Arctic has not been developed yet (with the exception of the State of Alaska). Unlike the editor, the author envisages the possibility that the clash of security cultures may happen in the near future, which may result in remilitarization of the Arctic region, making it a stage for great powers competition. Meanwhile, in her contribution Nicol examines the territorial development policies and initiatives through which the state of Canada reinforces its interests and sovereignty in the Arctic region as well as the ways in which economic development initiatives become security issues due to some specific features of the Canadian North.
Finger's chapter, described by the author as ‘socioepistemological’ in its nature, explores the mutual relation between the Arctic region and the ‘civilization’, referring to how the geophysical dynamics of the Arctic influence the earth system and how the civilization influences the Arctic region. Finger explains the concept of the anthropocene – its development and importance in perceiving the modern world. While giving an explanation of the Arctic paradox the author mentions the ‘high temptation’ to exploit Arctic resources and poses a crucial philosophical question: can humanity resist this temptation? The author envisages an increasing importance of geoengineering solutions in the Arctic and gives four possible scenarios with their corresponding likely actions in terms of geoengineering as well as their potential governance frameworks.
To conclude, professor Heininen has edited a comprehensive and diligent volume which stands as an important contribution to the study of the Arctic. Due to the fact that the book covers several different aspects of the Arctic security, reading and understanding the book requires a certain level of knowledge in security, policy, governance and environmental issues. Thus, the book is aimed at those in relevant fields who would like to broader their understanding of the security dynamics in the Arctic region. It will certainly help its readers to understand what makes the Arctic so specific and so different compared to other regions of the planet. By covering different topics and offering various intersecting perspectives, this book is excellent ‘food for thought’ for scholars interested in Arctic issues. Through assembling this volume Heininen has tried to use his extensive research experience to complete the picture of the security dynamics in the Arctic region. Arguments given by the authors are plausible and they highlight the main security issues in the Arctic, both on the formal and analytical levels.
