Science Diplomacy in the Arctic: The Competition-Cooperation Nexus in the Arctic Council

The permanent ice melting in the North Pole is opening alternatives for both Arctic and non-Arctic states in different aspects with economic, energy and security implications. The Arctic Council, a forum where the involved parties can constructively conciliate their interests, is the main international body in the Arctic region that allows its members to represent, communicate, negotiate, and implement their policies. This work is composed by two chapters, and it analyses the role of the Arctic Council in the Arctic international governance to demonstrate how the cooperation between Arctic and non-Arctic states is maintained in order to rather achieve common goals than to delve deeply into confrontation. The theoretical framework to be applied here is science diplomacy that helps to understand how national interests of Arctic and non-Arctic states can be intertwined into the international politics. The first chapter explains how science diplomacy is relevant to the subject of the study. The foundation of the Arctic Council is described through the science diplomacy optic, particularly when it comes to nation-states priorities and the use of national science policies to promote national interests and strengthen national positions in the region. The second chapter analyses the effectiveness of the Arctic Council through the main achievements in almost 25 years of its existence and answers the question why the Arctic Council is to be considered an ideal platform for both, Arctic and non-Arctic states, to communicate, negotiate, and find resolutions aiming to ease tensions and to solve ongoing disputes, despite the considerable skepticism towards the forum.