Arctic: Commerce, Governance and Policy

Uttam Kumar Sinha and Jo Inge Bekkevold (ed.), Arctic: Commerce, Governance and Policy, (London: IDSA/Routledge, 2015), Pages 319, Price: $145.00This volume on the unveiling new frontier in politics and commerce is perhaps a maiden venture in documenting new opportunities and challenges in the region and the precise dynamics specific to the issues at stake - some of which play out multilaterally, and some bilaterally. Likewise, clashes of interests and collaborative initiatives can occur simultaneously, regardless of whether the players are allies or adversaries.The centre-piece of the book is the chapter by Uttam Sinha and Arvind Gupta, which encapsulates the very basic issues relating to the melting of the ice; its endangered cryosphere; and of course the Indo-centric view of the opportunities and threats, and strengths and weaknesses of the snow-melt.India and China are two of the five observer countries of the Indo-Pacific, who have been included in the periphery of the club of eight nations that constitute the Arctic Council. core nations are Russia, the USA, Canada, Denmark and Norway that share boundaries with the and the rear three are Finland, Sweden and Iceland.The chapter, and India: Strategic Awareness and Scientific Engagement, is an eminently readable attempt at explaining the phenomenon of the emerging new frontier of the Arctic, where the melting ice opens up global commons or a global heritage commons. It appears to be a cautious approach to the beginning of an argument, as the authors (one being the joint editor of the book) seek to deal with the myriad possibilities of the continent. They describe their choice as: as well as cautious (P 111)Interestingly, however, though the Paris meeting on Climate Change is on the anvil, even as the book was being written and published, the two authors do not dwell on the issue of what New Delhi's view on global warming should be. issue of carbon emissions by developing countries remains on the table because China has struck a bilateral agreement with the USA to escape multilateral demands. authors of this chapter or indeed the book itself do not look into the aspect of climate change at all, even as the loss of the snow-cap is a manifestation of the phenomenon.Instead, they focus on the twin issue of garnering natural resources that the offers and the security angle, where issues of national maritime boundaries like territorial waters, exclusive economic zones, and sovereignty, prevail. While that can be called pragmatism - a terminological avoidance of realism - the latter cannot certainly be viewed as a lack of idealism. reason for this is embedded in the argument about the commons.The realpolitik does come into play when Russia, a nation involved until recently, in unilaterally managing the region, plays offthe West's interests with that of a faraway China, though still an emerging superpower. In the chapter, Russia's China Policy in the Arctic, Tom Roseth details how Moscow, increasingly being marginalised in Europe, is seeking to bring parity between the American industrial might with that of the Chinese. In this telling paragraph, Roseth, a research fellow at the Centre for Asian Security Studies at the Norwegian Institute of Defence Studies, Oslo, Norway, writes: The development of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) is important for Russia due to its potential strategic and economic importance. Increased trans-shipment and extraction of resources along the route is a future income base for Russia. China as a resource hungry trading nation would most likely be one of the main beneficiaries and drivers for developing the NSR. Increased activity might also create some challenges for Russia. In pursuing a policy reflecting a strategic partnership with China over the NSR, the conditions would be (1) a common understanding on the usage of the route with a focus on commercial interests for Moscow, and (2) broad agreements on the regulation of shipping, including reasonable tariffs for transit that are considered acceptable to Beijing. …

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