Introduction: Security and Military Power in the Arctic

• Author: Njord Wegge, Sigbjorn Halsne
• Position: Norwegian Defence University College/Norwegian Military Academy, Norway/Norwegian Defence University College, Norway
• Pages: 32-33

© 2022 Njord Wegge and Sigbjørn Halsne. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Com-

mons CC-BY 4.0 License. eISSN 2387-4562. https://arcticreview.no.

Citation: Njord Wegge and Sigbjørn Halsne. “Introduction: Security and Military Power in the Arctic”

Arctic Review on Law and Politics, Vol. 13, 2022, pp. 32–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.23865/arctic.v13.3831

Arctic Review on Law and Politics

Vol. 13, 2022, pp. 32–33

32

Editorial

Introduction: Security and Military

Power in the Arctic

Njord Wegge (guest editor)

Norwegian Defence University College/Norwegian Military Academy, Norway

Sigbjørn Halsne (assistant guest editor)

Norwegian Defence University College, Norway

For a long time, the Arctic has been regarded as a stable region with low tension.

However, even though low tension prevails, it is a fact that the circumpolar region

also encompasses some of the world’s most capable and potent military capabilities.

The key role of the Arctic regarding security issues, international relations and geo-

politics, is sometimes underplayed or not fully understood. These aspects of security

are investigated in this thematic issue of Arctic Review on Law and Politics.

The Kola Peninsula, where the headquarters of Russia’s Northern Fleet is located,

is one of the most militarized areas in the world. In other places, like Alaska, Thule

in Greenland and Northern Norway, arctic NATO states possess signicant military

capabilities and installations. Russia, as well as Western powers, also use the Arctic

Ocean and its adjacent seas, as patrol and operational areas for platforms such as

submarines, surface vessels, and strategic bombers. Due to the presence of a most

of Russia’s “second strike capability”, the Arctic region also serves as an important

location for intelligence installations and warning systems. This fur ther underlines

the region’s vital military strategic role, closely linking the Arctic to security agendas

held by political decision makers.

At the time of writing (late February 2022), the Arctic has been sheltered from

most of the military escalation and tension experienced in Eastern Europe following

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, the use of military power and violence as a

political instrument in and around Ukraine, has once again reminded the inhabi-

tants of Europe, North America and far beyond, that military security is integral to

international relations. Because the Arctic is a vital part of the international arena,

hard security also matters here.

This special series of articles seeks to illuminate several aspects of security and

military power pertaining to the Arctic region. In Jonas Kjellén’s article the upgrading