Pohjoiset alueet muutoksessa : geopoliittinen näkökulma

Authors

• Lassi Heininen

Abstract

In classical geopolitics the northernmost regions of the globe has been discussed as a reserve of natural resources and a space for the military. This periphery, the circumpolar North is also a homeland of Indigenous peoples with their identities. The industrialized and militarized High North of the Cold War started to thaw in the 1990s as a result of increased interrelations be­tween peoples and civil societies, as well as region-building by nation-states. At the early-21st century there are interpretations saying that there is going on the Race for the Arctic, or that the region could descend into armed conflict due to a fight over natural resources within the conti­nental shelf. None of these are, however, happening, although the geo-strategic importance of the High North is growing. Instead, there is a significant and multi-functional geopolitical, socio-economic and environmental change. Though, it is not yet easy to describe or analyze the occur­ring change, it has several indicators (of both classical and critical geopolitics), such as an impor­tance of state sovereignty, energy security, institutionalized international cooperation and climate change. Final, on one hand, there is a growing global interest toward the region and its natural resources, and on the other, the High North plays more important role in world politics.