Polar Geopolitics - Arctic and Antarctic analysis

What might the future of the Arctic look like, and in what ways has the optimistic Arctic future of 15-20 years ago taken a different path than expected at that time? Mia Bennett, associate professor at the University of Washington and producer of the Cryopolitics blog, joins the podcast to discuss the new book she has co-authored with Klaus Dodds, Unfrozen: the fight for the future of the Arctic (Yale UP 2025). The conversation covers topics such as Arctic flashpoints and future scenarios, the effects of a weakened Arctic Council on the political voice of Arctic indigenous peoples, the demise of Arctic Exceptionalism and narratives of a Global Arctic, interest in the Arctic among Asian states, Greenland, and the role of technologies in the circumpolar North.

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Perceptions of massive economic opportunity have propelled Arctic geopolitics for almost two decades, and the late Scott Minerd estimated the region required over $1 trillion in infrastrucutre investments to realize its full potential. On this episode, Mads Qvist Frederiksen, executive director of the Arctic Economic Council, discusses the Arctic’s business environment, the array of opportunities and challenges faced by would-be stakeholders, and the role of narratives in reflecting and shaping the  present and future of the circumpolar North. The recent AEC mining report on Critical Raw Materials is discussed, as is the new Arctic Encyclopaedia published by the Arctic Economic Council as part of its extensive communications efforts that promote the Arctic as not only a place for investment but also as a region of diverse cultures and environments.

Polar Geopolitics on Twitter / X: @polargeopol

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Greenland has for good reason gotten most of the attention, but what other emerging trends can be seen in US interest and activities towards the Arctic and Antarctic during the current Trump administration? On this episode, Evan Bloom, a former senior diplomat who for over two decades helped shape American polar policies at the State Department, discusses concerns over funding cuts for polar science, proposed US investments in icebreakers, the question of extended continental shelf claims around Alaska, the current state of the Arctic Council, and great power dynamics in Antarctic governace. As a co-editor and contributor to the new Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Polar Law, he also explains the relevance of international legal regimes in the Arctic and Antarctic.

The United States, due in large part to Donald Trump’s renewed ambition to acquire Greenland, has this year dominated discussions on Arctic geopolitics. A timely new book, America in the Arctic: Foreign Policy and Competition in the Melting North (Columbia University Press 2025), analyses the long-term evolution of U.S. Arctic engagement across an array of issue areas. The book’s author Mary Thompson-Jones, a retired diplomat with the U.S. State Department and currently Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, joins the podcast to share her wide-ranging insights into the formation and future directions of U.S. policy in the Arctic, including topics such as climate change and science diplomacy, the Arctic as a theater for strategic competition, the procurement of icebreakers, and the increasingly important role of the U.S. Arctic gateway states of Alaska and Maine.

Polar Geopolitics on Twitter / X: @polargeopol

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In the wake of the recent 47th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Milan, Alan Hemmings, Adjunct Professor at Gateway Antarctica at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch and veteran of many a ATCM, joins the podcast to provide a comprehensive, somewhat sobering, analysis of the current state of Antarctic governance, and the changing geopolitical dynamics within the Antarctic Treaty System. Among the range of topics discussed are the uncertainty of American Antarctic engagement under the Trump administration, the dual function of science in Antarctica, and the actual significance of the year 2048 for the Madrid Protocol and the ATS.

Polar Geopolitics on Twitter / X: @polargeopol

Polar Geopolitics on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/polargeopolitics

Polar Geopolitics on SubStack: https://polargeopolitics.substack.com/ 

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Two major international crises of recent years, Covid-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have had profound effects on Arctic governance. American interest in acquiring Greenland has meanwhile complicated relations between key Arctic countries. With Greenland now leading the newly-launched Kingdom of Denmark chairship of the Arctic Council at a time of great geopolitical uncertainty, this episode explores the evolution of Greenlandic foreign policy through a lens of “crisis diplomacy” with Rasmus Leander Nielsen, associate professor and head of Nasiffik - the centre for foreign and security policy at the University of Greenland.

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Jeppe Kofod, Denmark’s foreign minister during Trump’s first Greenland gambit, joins the podcast to analyze the current situation and share insights from his central role in resolving the previous U.S.-Denmark-Greenland crisis in 2019.

Polar Geopolitics has now started a Substack where we will provide edited episode transcripts, original articles and analyses, and other content on geopolitics, the Arctic and Antarctica:  https://polargeopolitics.substack.com 

Polar Geopolitics on Twitter / X: @polargeopol

Polar Geopolitics YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PolarGeopolitics   

Polar Geopolitics on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/polargeopolitics

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In this third part of the “Future of the Arctic Council” session recorded live at Arctic Frontiers, Dr. Volker Rachold and Dr. Elana Wilson Rowe discuss the continued importance, despite recent shocks to the international system, of Arctic cooperation in the context of global governance. Topics include the imperative of managing environmental problems in the Arctic and elsewhere, the Council’s strong connections to wider international processes, and how Arctic Council observer states have succeeded in embedding themselves in Arctic affairs through scientific cooperation. Volker Rachold is Head of the German Arctic Office at the Alfred Wegener Institute, and Elana Wilson Rowe is Research Professor and Head of the Center for Ocean Governance at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and Professor in Global Governance at the Norwegian University of the Life Sciences.

Polar Geopolitics has now started a Substack where we will provide edited episode transcripts, original articles and analyses, and other content on geopolitics, the Arctic and Antarctica:  https://polargeopolitics.substack.com 

Polar Geopolitics on Twitter / X: @polargeopol

Polar Geopolitics YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PolarGeopolitics   

Polar Geopolitics on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/polargeopolitics

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