ABSTRACT
Since the end of the Cold War, the mantra of “High North, low tensions” has been at the centre of scholarly and policy debate about the world’s most northerly region. In 1996, the Arctic Council was founded. This pioneering intergovernmental forum provided a space for “cooperation, coordination and interaction” between the eight recognised Arctic states. Security, when defined in a critical fashion as a broader human or environmental issue, has been discussed between the Arctic Council members, yet as a more traditional nation state and military focused issue, the topic has remained on the peripheries of Council discussion. Over the coming decades, regions of the Arctic will “open up for business” and the monitoring of state “manoeuvring” in many parts of the Arctic will be a priority for the United States and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies.
