Arctic Spillover? Military Signalling in the European Arctic Before and After the Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine
How has Russian and Western military activity in the European Arctic evolved following Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine? Are we seeing a more forward-leaning and assertive Russia, and have NATO allies strengthened their presence? In short, are we seeing an intensified mutual deterrence posture? These crucial questions are made all the more pressing by the region hosting a significant proportion of Russia’s sea-based strategic nuclear arsenal. Against this backdrop, the article analyses developments in both Russian and Western military activity in the European Arctic, with a particular focus on how deterrence is signalled through military posture. The study finds that, despite claims to the contrary, military day-to-day business in the European Arctic remains relatively unchanged. Russia’s activities appear to signal a desire to maintain the status quo rather than revisionist stance. While the West has strengthened its deterrence signalling, its posture remains measured.
Marc Lanteigne
Marc Lanteigne is a specialist on the politics and foreign policy of China and East Asia (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan) and Oceania / Pacific Island...
Arctic Security Conference 2025: Managing Fragmentation and Polarization
Building on last year's success, ASC25 aims to contribute to an enlightened debate about security policy in the north.
Riskification and the production of threat: A comparison of risk assessments in cybersecurity and counter-terrorism
This article foregrounds the riskification of cybersecurity – the transition from pre-empting threat to governing risk – through a comparison of the U.S. government intrusion detection system EINSTEIN and parts of the UK counter-terrorism programme Prevent. Extensively theorised within both cybersecurity and counter-terrorism, calculating, profiling and governing risk has become the default mode of security governance, algorithmically producing subjects of insecurity. However, a closer, comparative read of the sociotechnical configurations that underpin specific modalities in risk assessment systems reveal important differences: Whereas Prevent more clearly presupposes normative subjects and standards of (in)security, EINSTEIN’s anomaly detection engenders threat not as a binary or normative distinction but as a separate category of risk. Highlighting these differences enables a deeper understanding of speculative security practices as such, and of how they may be theorised. In particular, the article shows how ‘meaning-making’ and ‘sense-making’ are processes that shape both security responses and timelines through which risk is conceptualised in different ways. Moreover, it reveals that rather than being fixed, risk and (in)security is perpetually co-produced with the tools used for assessment: The production of (in)security hence has little to do with real or imagined risk but rather emerges from a particular configuration of social, political and technological relations.
Norwegian Security Policy: Strategic Choices and Dilemmas in a Time of Turbulence
The project examines how Russia’s war against Ukraine, increased great power rivalry, and uncertainty among allies are shaping Norwegian security policy, and how Norway should adapt to...
Strategic Initiative for Defending Critical Maritime Infrastructure (SIDMI)
The SIDMI project enhances Romania–Norway cooperation on safeguarding offshore energy infrastructure through shared knowledge, practical experience, and research on emerging maritime s...
Europe’s New Role in U.S. Strategy
The future of U.S.-European relations is emerging as one of the most significant factors that will shape the global system. NATO’s celebration of its 75th anniversary at the bloc’s summit in Washington next week will be overshadowed not only by Russia’s war on Ukraine but by uncertainty over the future of the alliance itself—not least because of the possibility that NATO-bashing former U.S. President Donald Trump could return to power next year. The U.S.-European relationship will have several practical benefits for Washington’s rivalry with Beijing. In this op-ed, Jon Inge Bekkevold considers Europe's new role in U.S. strategy, the transatlantic relationship and U.S.-Chinese rivalry.
The Cost of Ignoring Geopolitics
Like Napoleon and the Ming dynasty, Europe is paying the price for strategic blindness. Europe finds itself in the greatest peril since the 1940s. As Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine enters its fourth year, the Trump administration’s policy shifts mean that Europe suddenly faces the possibility of war with Russia without the United States’ full backing. Washington is now negotiating a possible peace directly with Moscow and Kyiv, without the participation of other Europeans. It also seems willing to reach a deal largely on Russia’s terms. In this article, Jo Inge Bekkevold examines current geopolitical developments in Europe through a historical lens, highlighting both parallels and key differences with the past.
Critical Raw Materials: Interests of China and the European Union in the Arctic
In this Essay, we examine a potential avenue of future contestation in the Arctic – namely, the development of critical raw materials (CRMs) – with a particular focus on two actors with a growing interest in exploiting those materials in the Arctic region: China and the European Union (EU). CRMs increasingly play an essential role in the geopolitics of the global energy transition. In comes the Arctic region – a broad geographic area encompassing eight States that is rich in critical minerals, such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and REEs. However, mining in the Arctic poses significant risks, particularly to the region’s fragile ecosystem, and would require significant investments, often also involving public-private partnerships. And yet, as demand for critical minerals grows, the Arctic’s role in the global supply chain will likely become more prominent, particularly from a Chinese and EU perspective. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 marked a watershed in relations between the West and the Russian Federation, including in the Arctic region. Once hailed as an exceptional space of regional governance, cooperation and peaceful co-existence between the Arctic States, that notion lost meaning over the past two – almost three – years.
Andreas Raspotnik
Andreas Raspotnik conducts research on the European Union’s policies and interests in the Arctic, with a particular emphasis on EU foreign and sec...