ABSTRACT
The opening chapter introduces the main approaches of security in the Arctic and how they have recently evolved and diversified. Although the far northern regions were arenas for conflict in much of the twentieth century, including the Second World War and the Cold War, the decades immediately succeeding the fall of the Soviet Union brought forward the idea of the Arctic as an “exceptional” region set aside from the security concerns of the rest of the world. However, the actual description of Arctic security is much more complex, and so this chapter unpacks not only the differing views of “security” in the region, but also the case studies which will be used to demonstrate this diversity.
