Arctic Sovereignty Course Description

Climate change is dramatically altering the foreign policy of Arctic countries. The polar regions are among the principle areas affected by global warming causing the eight Arctic nations (Russia, the United States, Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland) to move concerns previously on the "back burner" to the top of their national agendas.

With the melting of the polar ice cap, significant undiscovered oil and gas reserves may soon be accessible. The Northwest Passage shipping route between Europe and Asia, 5,000 miles shorter than the Panama Canal route, may soon be passable. How are rights to resources lying under the sea determined, and is the Northwest Passage an "international strait" or “internal Canadian waters?" What of the Inuit claim on sea ice as additional territory? What about fishery resources that cross national boundaries in the Arctic? Up to now the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was assumed adequate to guide most maritime disputes. But, it has become clear that such issues of national, and aboriginal, rights and ownership are not sufficiently covered. The urgency of the question is illustrated by a warning from a respected British think-tank that if the "race for the Arctic" in not resolved, a polar war is a real possibility.

Students will address this intensifying international debate and make recommendations as to how competing claims might be resolved in the context of different national agendas and aboriginal interests. This Task Force includes a one-week fact-finding mission to Ottawa, Canada's capital, to meet with scientists, lawyers, Foreign Affairs Canada, Inuit associations, and foreign embassies.