Facing the most serious crisis since its founding in 1996, the future of the Arctic Council—currently on pause due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—has become fraught with uncertainty. What role, if any, can Russia possibly play in polar governance institutions if and when the conflict it started eventually subsides? Evan T. Bloom, a Senior Fellow at the Wilson Center’s Polar Institute who was instrumental in the Council’s establishment and evolution during his long career as the top polar official at the U.S. State Department, joins the podcast to discuss Arctic and Antarctic governance in the ..read more

Camp Century, a 1960s US Army base embedded in the Greenland ice sheet, was not only a High Arctic test site for advanced technologies—including a modular nuclear reactor—and secret military schemes at the height of the Cold War, but also a seminal location for the extraction of ice cores that would become an important baseline for modern climate science. Associate professor Kristian H. Nielsen of Aarhus University, who-coauthored a definitive account of this fascinating chapter of Cold War history, “Camp Century: The Untold Story of America's Secret Arctic Military Base Under the Greenland Ic ..read more

The European Union updated its Arctic policy in October with a communication that took a strong stand on climate change—calling for hydrocarbons to be left in the ground—and pronounced its status as an Arctic geopolitical actor that would assert its interests across the circumpolar North. Ambassador Michael Mann, the EU Special Envoy for Arctic Matters, joins the Polar Geopolitics podcast for an in-depth discussion on the multiple dimensions of the European Union’s engagement in the Arctic, from interactions with Russia, China and the United States, to plans for opening an EU office in Greenla ..read more

Despite asserting itself as a regional and global power, Brazil has traditionally taken a back seat to Chile and Argentina in terms of the Antarctic geopolitics of South America. Why has this been the case, and will Brazil continue its somewhat limited engagement relative to the extensive Antarctic programs of its neighbors? Ignacio Javier Cardone, author of the new book "The Antarctic Politics of Brazil: Where the Tropic meets the Pole" joins the Polar Geopolitics podcast to explain the evolution and future prospects of Brazilian activity in Antarctica, as well as the wider Antarctic geopolit ..read more

Australia’s plans to build a 2.7 km airstrip and other infrastructure in the ice-free Vestfold Hills near its Davis Station in East Antarctica have been heavily criticized, primarily on environmental grounds. The aerodrome, which Australia contends would improve scientific access to the continent and facilitate search and rescue operations, could also have an array of geopolitical implications. Antarctic legal expert Jeffrey McGee, an associate professor at the University of Tasmania in Hobart who has come out in support of the project, recently co-authored a report for the Australian Strategi ..read more

Hosting scientific facilities representing 12 countries, the Ny-Ålesund Research Station in Svalbard is perhaps the most international location in the Arctic. The former coalmining community, which Norway has over the past 30 years transformed into a leading center of Arctic research, also serves a geopolitical function for many of the states represented there. Associate Prof. Maarten Loonen from the Arctic Center at the University of Gröningen has since the late-1980s been a first-hand witness and participant in Ny-Ålesund’s transformation. Currently the chairman of the Ny-Ålesund Science Man ..read more

Could the incident of the Ever Given running aground in the Suez Canal, disrupting global trade for six days, be a turning point that leads to an expansion of container shipping along the Northern Sea Route and other Arctic passages? Or will the risks and costs associated with Arctic shipping, even when taking climate change and geopolitics into consideration, continue to exceed those of established Europe-Asia routes for decades to come? On this episode, the Polar Geopolitics podcast takes up these and other questions with shipping industry expert Lars Jensen, CEO of Sea Intelligence Consulti ..read more

On this episode, Prof. Caroline Kennedy-Pipe—an Arctic, Russia and Cold War expert at Loughborough University in England—analyses the emerging great power competition in the Arctic by providing a longer-term perspective on the geopolitical dynamics and developments in the circumpolar North over the past forty years. This period encompasses the close of the Cold War, the rise of international cooperation in the Arctic, and key shifts in the geopolitical position of Russia in the region and the world. Prof. Kennedy-Pipe also reflects on the role of ideology and how differing conceptions of sover ..read more

Dr. Mike Sfraga, director of the Polar Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington D.C., joins the podcast to discuss the various ways he sees the Biden administration altering American policies and geopolitical positioning in the polar regions. From global issues like climate change and great power competition, to regional and local issues such as renewed U.S. engagement with the Arctic Council, the key role of Greenland, and infrastructural development in his home state of Alaska, Dr. Sfraga analyses how American interests in the Arctic and Antarctic may be pursued over the next four years ..read more

The rise of great power competition in the Arctic, the disruption of Antarctic governance due to COVID-19, and the impact of the coronavirus on vulnerable Arctic communities were some of the notable polar topics covered on this podcast during the course of the pandemic year of 2020. In this year-end review, Klaus Dodds, professor of geopolitics at Royal Holloway University, discusses what he sees as some of the most significant geopolitical aspects of the pandemic in the polar regions and beyond during this extraordinary year in world history ..read more