Region
Arctic & Polar Regions
Climate, resources, maritime routes, sovereignty and strategic competition across the Arctic and polar regions.
5 published articles
Overview
The rapid transformation of the Arctic and polar regions is gradually changing their economic and geopolitical significance. Climate developments, access to resources, the potential opening of new maritime routes and the expansion of military capabilities are generating new strategic issues. This section examines the strategies of polar states, sovereignty questions, infrastructure, the environment and emerging forms of cooperation or rivalry.
Featured
Greenland: The Resources Washington Covets, the Sovereignty It Does Not Control
The American push to develop Greenland's natural resources exposes a fundamental contradiction: Washington increasingly regards the island as a major strategic asset, yet it possesses neither sovereignty over its territory nor the authority to determine how its resources are exploited.
AnalysisRecent publications
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Arctic & Polar RegionsArctic: The New Route Between Asia and Europe
The return of the South Korean container ship PanStar Acro to Busan, following an experimental commercial voyage through the Arctic, illustrates a potential transformation in the geography of global trade.
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Arctic & Polar RegionsGreenland: America Without Annexation
In New York on September 22, three signatures brought an extraordinary dispute to a close without requiring any of the parties to accept the humiliation that had once seemed almost inevitable. Donald Trump had wanted Greenland.
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Arctic & Polar RegionsGreenland: Europe Moves from Aid to Strategy
For years, the relationship between the European Union and Greenland largely reflected its institutional architecture: cooperation with an associated territory, focused primarily on education, fisheries and economic development. On September 7, 2026, in Nuuk, that relationship began to change in nature.
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Arctic & Polar RegionsThe High North: As the Boundaries Begin to Melt
Arctic routes, resources and strategic rivalry at the top of the world On the flat maps that have long shaped our perception of the world, the Arctic appears to belong to its outer margins. Greenland is pushed toward the top, Siberia and Alaska seem far apart, while Europe, Asia