Geopolitics on Thin Ice – seminar in Stockholm on 12 November 2022 on Arctic security questions

A joint seminar by the Finnish and Stockholm internal affairs associations was held on 12 November 2022 in Stockholm. Titled “Geopolitics on Thin Ice”, the first joint seminar of its kind by the Finnish Association of International Affairs (FAIA) and the Stockholm Association of International Affairs (SAIA), focused first and foremost on the new security situation in the High North.

The tone of the seminar was set by an opening panel with three experts: Emilie Broek (Research Assistant with SIPRI’s Climate Change and Risk Programme), Anna Karlsdóttir (Senior Research Fellow at Nordregio), and Julian Tucker (Researcher at the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung). Core themes of the discussions were the increasing weight on security questions and heightened unpredictability (including the threat to critical infrastructure), the urgency to address climate and environmental issues despite this, the myriad constellation of stakeholders – both state and non-state actors, NGOs, various forums (the Arctic Council the most prominent one), and indigenous peoples – the new possibilities for polar logistics routes, China’s interest in the Arctic, critical raw materials, and the Finnish and Swedish NATO-membership applications.

The seminar culminated in a workshop, taking a format of a policy brief simulation. Seminar participants were divided into four teams – representing Canada, Denmark, Norway, and the United States – with each tasked to provide a policy brief from their perspective on the changed security situation in the Arctic, noting in particular two key recent developments: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Finnish and Swedish NATO-membership applications. After an intense 75-minute work preparing their brief, building on the preceding panel discussion but also any further relevant sources, the four country teams delivered a 10-minute briefing. The briefings pointed to the various dynamics at play in the Arctic and the difficulties to address the climate change related challenges in the context of the current geopolitical tensions.

The seminar concluded with a dinner, hosted by SAIA, at Stockholm University.