A podcast on the Arctic and Antarctica that applies the lens of geopolitics to analyze a wide range of critical issues pertaining to the polar regions and international affairs. In interviews with leading experts, recurring topics include Greenland, the Arctic Council, climate change, critical raw materials, the Antarctic Treaty System, hybrid warfare, science diplomacy, great power competition between the United States, China and Russia, sustainable development, Svalbard, NATO, Arctic shipping, Alaska, AI, technology and critical infrastructure, the Baltic Sea, military and national security, energy, the role of indigenous peoples in Arctic governance, and more. Polar Geopolitics is hosted by Dr. Eric Paglia, a podcast producer and environmental historian at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.
Episodes
Wednesday Jan 14, 2026
Wednesday Jan 14, 2026
With transatlantic ties and the future of NATO at stake, security policy analyst Maria Martisiute from the European Policy Center in Brussels joins the podcast to discuss the role of the EU, NATO and member states in attempting to mitigate the Greenland Crisis. She also presents six recommendations for potentially turning the crisis into an opportunity to enhance Arctic security and foster greater cooperation between Denmark, Greenland, the United States, and European countries and institutions on issues ranging from natural resources to collective security. Her recent article on the topic is called It’s a bargain: the case of Greenland.
Polar Geopolitics on Twitter / X: @polargeopol
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Polar Geopolitics on SubStack: https://polargeopolitics.substack.com/
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Thursday Jan 08, 2026
Thursday Jan 08, 2026
The appointment of Jeff Landry as special envoy reflects the Trump administration’s increasingly assertive pursuit of Greenland – what Prof. Steven Lamy of the University of Southern California sees as a strategy of coercive diplomacy directed towards the Kingdom of Denmark. In an interview recorded in late December, Prof. Lamy, a scholar of political science and international relations, joins the podcast to explain how the current US approach towards acquiring Greenland represents a radical departure from post war American foreign policy and resembles a 19th century spheres of influence worldview.
Polar Geopolitics on Twitter / X: @polargeopol
Polar Geopolitics on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/polargeopolitics
Polar Geopolitics on SubStack: https://polargeopolitics.substack.com/
Polar Geopolitics YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PolarGeopolitics
Polar Geopolitics on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/polargeopolitics/
Polar Geopolitics website: http://www.polargeopolitics.com
Polar Geopolitics on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/polargeopolitics
Polar Geopolitics on PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=KXUVZKGALMFXU
Wednesday Nov 19, 2025
Wednesday Nov 19, 2025
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.
Polar Geopolitics on Twitter / X: @polargeopol
Polar Geopolitics on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/polargeopolitics
Polar Geopolitics on SubStack: https://polargeopolitics.substack.com/
Polar Geopolitics YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PolarGeopolitics
Polar Geopolitics on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/polargeopolitics/
Polar Geopolitics website: http://www.polargeopolitics.com
Polar Geopolitics on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/polargeopolitics
Polar Geopolitics on PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=KXUVZKGALMFXU
Friday Oct 10, 2025
Friday Oct 10, 2025
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
Polar Geopolitics on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/polargeopolitics
Polar Geopolitics on SubStack: https://polargeopolitics.substack.com/
Polar Geopolitics YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PolarGeopolitics
Polar Geopolitics on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/polargeopolitics/
Polar Geopolitics website: http://www.polargeopolitics.com
Polar Geopolitics on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/polargeopolitics
Polar Geopolitics on PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=KXUVZKGALMFXU
Wednesday Sep 10, 2025
Wednesday Sep 10, 2025
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.
Thursday Jul 17, 2025
Thursday Jul 17, 2025
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
Polar Geopolitics on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/polargeopolitics
Polar Geopolitics on SubStack: https://polargeopolitics.substack.com/
Polar Geopolitics YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PolarGeopolitics
Polar Geopolitics on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/polargeopolitics/
Polar Geopolitics website: http://www.polargeopolitics.com
Polar Geopolitics on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/polargeopolitics
Polar Geopolitics on PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=KXUVZKGALMFXU
Tuesday Jul 15, 2025
Tuesday Jul 15, 2025
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/
Polar Geopolitics YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PolarGeopolitics
Polar Geopolitics on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/polargeopolitics/
Polar Geopolitics website: http://www.polargeopolitics.com
Polar Geopolitics on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/polargeopolitics
Polar Geopolitics on PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=KXUVZKGALMFXU
Tuesday May 20, 2025
Tuesday May 20, 2025
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.
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
Polar Geopolitics on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/polargeopolitics/
Polar Geopolitics website: http://www.polargeopolitics.com
Polar Geopolitics on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/polargeopolitics
Polar Geopolitics on PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=KXUVZKGALMFXU