DIIS WORKINGDIIS WORKING PAPER 2014:08PAPER Cooperation or conflict in the Arctic: A Literature Review Mikkel Runge Olesen DIIS Working Paper 2014:08 WORKING PAPER WORKING 1 DIIS WORKING PAPER 2014:08 MIKKEL RUNGE OLESEN PhD, Researcher, Research Area on Foreign policy, DIIS
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[email protected] Web: www.diis.dk Layout: Allan Lind Jørgensen ISBN: 978-87-7605-703-9 (pdf) DIIS publications can be downloaded free of charge from www.diis.dk 2 DIIS WORKING PAPER 2014:08 CONTENTS Abstract 4 The debates since the late 00s 6 “The warners” 6 “The reassurers” 8 “The inbetweeners” 12 Conclusion 14 References 17 3 DIIS WORKING PAPER 2014:08 ABSTRACT Spill-over from the Ukrainian crisis is threatening an otherwise benign international state of affairs in the Arctic, raising once more the question of whether the Arctic is likely to be a scene for cooperation or conflict in the coming years? This question has defined much Inter- national Relations research on the Arctic region even before Ukraine. This working paper takes stock of the debates between two groups of researchers, which in the paper are named respectively “warners” and “reassurers”, and it argues that the field as a whole has generally become more optimistic regarding the Arctic since 2007.