The Post-Cold War Arctic

In the 1980s’ the Arctic was defined among others as a homeland of Indigenous peoples vis-à-vis a land for discovery, a storehouse of resource vis-à-vis a nature reserve, a military theater of the Cold War vis-à-vis a ‘Zone of Peace’. Indeed, the region was under a global nuclear war threat, the final destination of long-range pollution, and followed from this a special target for peace movements’ campaigns and environmental awakening. At the 2020s, the Arctic is with a wicked problem consisted of growing risks of climate change and environmental degradation due to global warming, pollution and collapse of biodiversity, as well as globalized due to growing interests by Arctic stakeholders and new actors from outside the region. Among new images, narratives and visions of the global Arctic are an environmental linchpin for, and a ‘climate archive’ of, the planet, and an exceptional ‘political space’ in world politics characterized by “high geopolitical stability and constructive cooperation”. This chapter draws up a holistic picture on a state of the post-Cold War Arctic, and the significant geopolitical changes behind and followed from the shift from the Cold War to the 2020s. It discusses and analyzes the changing dynamics of main themes / trends of Arctic geopolitics and governance, as well as common interests of the Arctic states and Indigenous peoples, and special Arctic features which made possible to restructure Arctic geopolitics and governance towards stability and cooperation.