Greaves Wilfrid 201606 Phd Thesis
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Constructing In/Security in the Arctic: Polar Politics, Indigenous Peoples, and Environmental Change in Canada and Norway by Wilfrid William John Greaves A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Political Science University of Toronto © Copyright by Wilfrid William John Greaves 2016 Constructing In/Security in the Arctic: Polar Politics, Indigenous Peoples, and Environmental Change in Canada and Norway Wilfrid William John Greaves Doctor of Philosophy Department of Political Science University of Toronto 2016 Abstract As climate change transforms the circumpolar Arctic, ‘Arctic security’ has increasingly been used as a concept to address the most urgent related policy questions. But security is a contested concept, and there is contradiction among the various understandings of what it actually entails in the Arctic region. This dissertation investigates competing conceptions of security and environmental change by state and non-state actors in the Arctic regions of Canada and Norway. It asks why, despite being understood as a threat to national and global security by other states and in other regional contexts, has climate change not been constituted as a security threat by Arctic states? I examine this question through a comparative analysis of Canada and Norway’s foreign and security policies, how they construct the significance of climate change, and those policies’ correspondence with local Indigenous conceptions of Arctic security. The findings suggest that the conception of security held by Arctic Indigenous peoples have been structurally excluded from official Arctic security discourse. The dissertation makes three central contributions: it offers a comparative analysis of circumpolar states’ understandings of Arctic security; it undertakes the first comparative analysis of Indigenous understandings of Arctic security; and it proposes a revised theory of how certain identities condition the process through which in/security is socially constructed. ii Acknowledgments This dissertation would not have been possible without the guidance and support of my doctoral supervisor, Matthew J. Hoffmann, and my committee members, Steven Bernstein and Rauna Kuokkanen. It has also benefited greatly from the suggestions and knowledge of my internal and external readers, Graham White of the University of Toronto and Simon Dalby of the Balsillie School of International Affairs. I have been fortunate to receive advice and support from numerous faculty members of the University of Toronto, including professors Nancy Bertoldi, Wendy Wong, and the late Stephen Clarkson. I owe many debts to friends and graduate student colleagues at the University of Toronto, including: Megan Dersnah, Craig Damian Smith, Dave Zarnett, Aarie Glas, Jodi Adams, Kiran Banerjee, Jerald Sabin, and Adrienne Davidson. I also appreciate the valuable research assistance of Amir Fleischmann. My interest in and knowledge of the Arctic has been constantly informed and motivated by the work and support of professors P. Whitney Lackenbauer of St. Jerome’s University, Rob Huebert of the University of Calgary, and Gunhild Hoogensen Gjørv of the University of Tromsø. I am indebted to all three of them. This dissertation project benefited greatly from the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation and the Munk-Gordon Arctic Security Program, particularly Tom Axworthy and Sara French. My fieldwork was also greatly assisted by Else Grete Broderstad and the faculty, staff, and students at the Centre for Sámi Studies at the University of Tromsø. My research was supported by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Government of Ontario, the former Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, and the Department of Political Science, School of Graduate Studies, and Trudeau Centre for Peace, Conflict and Justice at the University of Toronto. Lastly, none of this would have been possible without the support of my wife, Carolyn Cornford Greaves, to whom I owe so much, and our daughter, Eleanor, whose impending arrival was a fine motivation to get the thing done. This dissertation is dedicated to my mother, Sherry Dolores Greaves, grandmother, Peggy Dolores Greaves, and grandfather, Wilfrid Edmund Greaves, who began this journey with me but did not see its finish. Their love remains a constant source of inspiration. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. viii List of Appendices ......................................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1 ......................................................................................................................................... 1 1 Climate, Change, and the Arctic ................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Changing Global Climate ................................................................................................... 4 1.2 The Changing Arctic ........................................................................................................... 8 1.3 Defining the Arctic ........................................................................................................... 12 1.4 Changing Arctic Security .................................................................................................. 17 1.5 Methodology, Case Selection and Evidence ..................................................................... 22 1.5.1 Case Selection ....................................................................................................... 24 1.5.2 Evidence of (Attempted) Securitization ................................................................ 25 1.6 Outline of Dissertation ...................................................................................................... 29 Chapter 2 ....................................................................................................................................... 33 2 Indigeneity, Non-Dominance and Research ............................................................................ 33 2.1 Indigeneity and Non-Dominance ...................................................................................... 35 2.1.1 Colonialism and Power ......................................................................................... 39 2.2 Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic ...................................................................................... 41 2.3 Research, Non-Dominance and Indigenous Peoples ........................................................ 46 2.3.1 Decolonization and Indigenist Research ............................................................... 48 Chapter 3 ....................................................................................................................................... 54 3 Security, Theory, and the (Arctic) Environment ...................................................................... 54 3.1 Constructing In/Security ................................................................................................... 55 iv 3.2 Securitization Theory: The Copenhagen School and Its Critics ....................................... 63 3.2.1 Normal Politics and Non-Securitized Issues ......................................................... 71 3.2.2 Intersubjectivity and Illocutionary Speech Acts ................................................... 74 3.2.3 Identity and Securitization .................................................................................... 77 3.3 Revising Securitization: Non-Dominance and In/Security ............................................... 81 3.3.1 Silencing and Subsuming Indigenous Insecurity .................................................. 85 3.4 Insecurity and the Environment ........................................................................................ 90 3.4.1 Securitizing Climate Change ................................................................................ 94 3.5 Why Securitize .................................................................................................................. 97 3.6 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 103 Chapter 4 ..................................................................................................................................... 106 4 Understanding In/Security in the Canadian Arctic ................................................................ 106 4.1 Indigenous Peoples and In/Security in the Canadian Arctic ........................................... 108 4.1.1 Indigenous Insecurities ....................................................................................... 114 4.1.2 Inuit Perspectives on Security and Sovereignty .................................................. 118 4.1.3 In/Security, Resources, and Climate Change ...................................................... 124 4.1.4 Security and Self-Determination ........................................................................