Will the Arctic be a New Mediterranean? Transformations in the Polar Geographies of Power

This paper draws upon recent statements by Arctic scholars concerning the need to equip ourselves with geographically sensitive tools in order to understand the transformations underway in the northern polar space in regard to power politics. It argues that Geopolitics is heuristically capable of grasping both the roles played by the Arctic as well as the consequences of its opening and transformation. However, in order to do so Geopolitics as an heuristic approach must be refined and the spatial dynamic the Arctic responds to must be properly grasped. Inspired by the analyses claiming that the Arctic space as a whole makes up a Mediterranean Sea, this paper first proceeds to understand what, from a geopolitical point of view, a Mediterranean is; secondly, it check whether or not the spatialization processes underway and emerging in the Arctic are turning this area into a Mediterranean. It is concluded that although it is improper to claim that the Arctic as a unitary space is a Mediterranean Sea, the heuristic approach of Geopolitics can nevertheless single out and understand several spatial aspects and dynamics of undoubtedly growing importance that are played (and at play) by (and in) the Arctic space.