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Course code: Name: SO345S Just Herman Kornfeldt The Augmented Arctic: - The «Race for the Arctic» Narrative and its Effects on Norway’s High North Policy- Date: September 2nd Total number of pages: 76 Acknowledgement Researching, writing and completing a master’s degree is a huge endeavor and a personal milestone. It has given me insight, new knowledge and challenged me in a positive way. I feel I can look back at this time as one which has enriched my life. I must give a huge thank you to my supervisor, Torbjørn Pedersen. He has guided me through my years at Nord University which, through dialogues, put me on the path leading to this topic. I am immensely grateful. Working on a master thesis is a team effort. To my co- students, Helene and Pablo, whom I could not do without, I am proud to call you my friends. Thank you for discussing, agreeing and disagreeing with me during these two years. I wish you the best of luck on the road ahead. This also includes all my other co-students at Nord and UNBC, and the professors at their respective institutions. They have engaged me and guided me throughout the years as a master student. Thank you. It would not be the same without all your help and guidance. To my friends who helped with overseeing the language and grammar in this thesis Anette and Nicholas I am forever grateful. Lastly, I want to thank my family who has encouraged me all the way through this master’s degree. The experience at Nord University and UNBC has exceeded all expectations, and I am grateful for all the opportunities and experiences I have had. Although the end of this chapter of my life is approaching, it also heralds a new beginning, which I am looking forward to immeasurably. “The silver lining still remains, the sights I've left to see So trust that with this end, a new beginning's waiting patiently” (The Dear Hunter, A Beginning) i Abstract The recognition of the Arctic as a region in its own right, has led to the creation of space where a distinct culture of the Arctic has flourished. This culture has manifested through formal and informal institutions which has produced and reproduced the narrative of the Arctic as the “space” for the 21st century. From a social constructivist perspective, it is in the discourses of academia, media and state socialization processes regarding the Arctic where it has gained nicknames such as “the new energy province of Europe” and the “Polar silk Road”. This effect we can argue is and has had a constitutive effect on Norway’s Arctic strategy. Narratives of the Arctic, together with a discourse heavily influenced by a vision the Arctic promoting an urgency in order to not lose out on the potential that the Arctic has to offer, have resulted in grand policy statements that have artificially inflated the importance of the Norwegian High North region. The ‘the race for the Arctic’ thus is a result of an intensification period between 2000-2017, catalyzed by climate change, produced by collective knowledge, about resources, transportation, international law and media attention which has affected the Norwegian High North Strategies from 2006, 2009 and 2017. This thesis seeks to explore how this constitutive effect has manifested in the Norwegian High North through exploration and description of the “race for the Arctic” narrative and to assess the impact it has had on Norwegian High North policy. It sheds light on how this discourse has evolved paralleled to and interlinked with the Norwegian ‘Euphoria’ of the High North of the mid-2000s, as evidenced by Norway’s High North strategies. Keywords: Arctic, race for the Arctic, Social Constructivism, High North, Norway ii Table of content Acknowledgement ....................................................................................................................... i Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... ii Table of content ......................................................................................................................... iii Chapter 1: Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Topic ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Research Question ............................................................................................................ 4 1.3 Historical Background ...................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Goal of Research .............................................................................................................. 7 1.5 Structure of Thesis ............................................................................................................ 7 Chapter 2: Review of the Literature ........................................................................................... 9 2.1 Resources ....................................................................................................................... 10 2.2 Transportation ................................................................................................................ 10 2.3 International Law ........................................................................................................... 11 2.4 Media attention ............................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 3: Theoretical framework ........................................................................................... 13 3.1 Social Constructivism .................................................................................................... 13 3.2 Critique of Social Constructivism .................................................................................. 15 3.3 Social Theory of International Politics ........................................................................... 16 3.3.1 Constitutive effect ................................................................................................... 18 3.3.2 Private and collective knowledge ............................................................................ 19 3.3.3 Culture as common and shared knowledge ............................................................. 20 Chapter 4: Methodology ........................................................................................................... 21 4.1 Content Analysis ............................................................................................................ 22 4.2 Empirical Data ................................................................................................................ 23 4.3 Describing the Process of Data collection ...................................................................... 24 Chapter 5: Empirical Findings ................................................................................................. 25 5.1 The Augmented Arctic ................................................................................................... 25 5.2 Climate Change and Increased Access ........................................................................... 27 5.3 “The Race for The Arctic” (2000-2017) ........................................................................ 29 5.3.1 Resources ................................................................................................................ 30 5.3.2 Transportation ......................................................................................................... 35 5.3.3 International law ...................................................................................................... 39 5.3.4 Media Attention ....................................................................................................... 41 5.4 Norway’s Arctic strategies ............................................................................................. 43 5.4.1 « The Norwegian Government's Strategy for the High North » (2006) .................. 44 5.4.2 « New Building Blocks in the North » (2009) ........................................................ 45 5.4.3 «Arctic Strategy» (2017) ......................................................................................... 48 Chapter 6: Analysis .................................................................................................................. 48 6.1 “The Race for the Arctic” Narrative............................................................................... 48 6.2 An Age of Opportunity .................................................................................................. 52 6.3 Fetishizing the High North ............................................................................................. 55 6.4 Turning the World on its Head ....................................................................................... 56 Chapter 7: Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 60 Chapter 8: References .............................................................................................................. 62 iii Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Topic When a Russian exploration sub planted a titanium Russian flag on the seabed of the north pole in 2007 (Parfitt 2007), media-outlets chose to cover the Arctic with explosive headlines