Kathrin Stephen

Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) · Global Change and Arctic Sustainable Transformations (GloCAST)

Despite the expectation of potentially vast petroleum resources in the offshore Arctic over the last decade, actual exploration and production rates are rather low. As of today, there are only two producing oil fields and one natural gas field in production. While technical challenges and a low oil price are among the explaining factors, the legal...

Erstmalig in einem deutschsprachigen Lehrbuch werden Geschichte, Akteure, Institutionen und Prozesse der internationalen Arktispolitik vor dem Hintergrund verschiedener Politikfelder sowie Theorien der internationalen Beziehungen anschaulich und verständlich analysiert. Fragen wie „Was macht die Arktis als Region in den internationalen Beziehungen...

Neben mineralischen Rohstoffen stehen vor allem Öl- und Gasvorkommen, internationale und regionale Schifffahrt und Fischerei im Zentrum der Debatte um die Ressourcen der Arktis. Der mögliche Zugang zu bislang unerschlossenen Öl- und Gasressourcen hat in den letzten Jahren einen Medienrummel über die Arktis als neue Energieressourcen-Hochburg ausgel...

Die für arktische Governance relevanten Akteure lassen sich nach geografischer Lage in arktische und nichtarktische Akteure sowie nach Typus in staatliche und nichtstaatliche Akteure unterteilen. Die Definition der südlichen Grenzen der Arktis und die Festlegung, wer und was als „arktisch“ zu gelten hat, ist ein soziales Konstrukt zur politischen O...

Das Governance-Gefüge der Arktis ist mit relevanten Institutionen auf internationaler, regionaler und subnationaler Ebene ein komplexes Konstrukt. Arktische Governance umfasst sowohl arktisspezifische Regelungen also auch arktisrelevante Übereinkünfte, also solche, die die Arktis nicht explizit erwähnen oder nicht im Mittelpunkt ihrer räumlichen Au...

Die Arktis ist im Vergleich zu anderen Regionen wesentlich weniger eindeutig als kohärente Region zu begreifen. Die Debatte um die regionness der Arktis ist von den Paradigmen „globale vs. regionale Arktis“ und „arktischer Exzeptionalismus vs. Normalismus“ geprägt. Zudem sind auch geopolitische Auseinandersetzungen, welche sich in einer ersten Gene...

Durch die Anwendung verschiedener politikwissenschaftlich-theoretischer Ansätze auf die Arktis hat dieses Buch verdeutlicht, dass es für die sich dynamisch entwickelnden Phänomene und Teilprobleme der Region mal mehr, mal weniger passgenaue und erklärungsmächtige theoretische Zugänge gibt. Für die künftige Erforschung der internationalen Politik un...

This review article makes six observations about the current body of research on the societal impacts of a changing Arctic. First, climate change and globalisation are the dominant drivers of societal impacts in the Arctic. Second, many contributions focus on the impacts in concrete sectors of society, often from an opportunities-and-risks perspect...

Puzzled by how geographical changes in the Arctic might cause changes in state behavior the authors of this article have been inspired to return to the roots of geopolitical reasoning. By combining insights from the intellectual roots of the geopolitical tradition with empirical data on geographical changes as well as policy changes in the Arctic t...

GRASP (Governance of Resources for Arctic Sustainable Policy and Practice) is an inter- and transdisciplinary research project jointly developed in 2014 by the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) and the Jade University of Applied Sciences

The chapter assesses the prospects for Arctic oil and gas development by taking a closer look at international determinants, which have been largely overlooked so far. These international factors include global market developments, geopolitical tensions from outside the Arctic, competition with conventional and unconventional resources elsewhere an...

This introductory chapter sets the stage for the edited volume and formulates a framework for analysing the governance of Arctic change in a global perspective. The chapter puts forward the argument that the Arctic, long treated as a pristine, peripheral and exceptional region, is a globally embedded space: it is subject to global impacts as well a...

The chapter provides concluding thoughts on the governance of the Arctic as a globally embedded space as put forward in the Introduction and exemplified in the manifold contributions to this volume. In due consideration of the insights gained from the volume, the chapter specifically re-assesses three broader governance models that have been propos...

The Arctic is one of the world’s regions most affected by cultural, socio-economic, environmental, and climatic changes. Over the last two decades, scholars, policymakers, extractive industries, governments, intergovernmental forums, and non-governmental organizations have turned their attention to the Arctic, its peoples, resources, and to the cha...

This volume explores the governance of the transforming Arctic from an international perspective. Leading and emerging scholars in Arctic research investigate the international causes and consequences of contemporary Arctic developments, and assess how both state and non-state actors respond to crucial problems for the global community. Long treate...

The Arctic provides one of the most striking signatures of climate change impacts. Accelerated loss of sea ice extent and thickness, loss in biodiversity, changing atmospheric circulation patterns, and melting permafrost portray only a few aspects of a rapidly changing Arctic. In recognition of the inter-, multi-, and trans-disciplinary (Keil 2015)...

The Arctic is among the world’s regions most affected by ongoing and increasing cultural, socio-economic, environmental and climatic changes. Over the last two decades, scholars, policymakers, extractive industries, local, regional and national governments, intergovernmental forums, and non-governmental organizations have turned their attention to...

Understanding and responding to the rapidly occurring environmental changes in the Arctic over the past few decades require new approaches in science. This includes improved collaborations within the scientific community but also enhanced dialogue between scientists and societal stakeholders, especially with Arctic communities. As a contribution to...

In order to assess whether the Arctic region is evolving into a region of cooperation or one of confrontation, a thorough understanding of the existing (and evolving) bilateral, regional and international institutional frameworks with relevant regulations for the Arctic and their adequacy for solving possible controversies is paramount. Disputes ca...

The Russian and Norwegian Arctic are gaining notoriety as an alternative maritime route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and as sources of natural resources. The renewed interest in the Northeast Passage or the Northern Sea Route is fueled by a recession of Arctic sea ice coupled with the discovery of new natural resources at a time when...

The Arctic region is climatically one of the fastest changing regions worldwide, as exemplified by the decreasing extent and volume of Arctic sea ice. These changes are attributed mostly to cumulative effects of consumption and production patterns in industrialized countries beyond the Arctic’s southern borders - specifically the increasing emissio...

With the Arctic ice barrier melting away due to anthropogenic global warming, Arctic states’ governmental policies will inevitably determine future governance prospects in high northern latitudes. Whether multilateral cooperation will prevail over or at least complement national economic and security ambitions in the vulnerable Arctic ecosystem, is...

Neorealist and neoliberal institutionalist explanations for the state and future of the Arctic region dominate the Arctic debate in international relations. While both schools focus on different aspects concerning the current and future state of Arctic affairs - neorealism evokes a confrontational rush for the Arctic's resources, whereas neoliberal...