Barry Zellen, M.A. ’85 writes: On July 26, 2024, my 14th book, Arctic Exceptionalism: Cooperation in a Contested World, a structural realist analysis of the enduring geopolitical roots of Arctic cooperation and the stabilizing impact of the fourth image (indigenous polities and tribal dynamics) on Arctic international relations, came to press (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Books, 335 pages).
For more than three centuries, the Arctic region has been a zone of increasingly collaborative, multilevel and multilateral governance and diplomacy.The interests of diverse sovereign states, indigenous peoples, NGOs, and other stakeholders have largely aligned across this impressive duration. Now, however, its consensus-based foundations are being tested once again, straining the collaborative dynamic known as Arctic exceptionalism.
While many scholars suggest Arctic exceptionalism is now dead, or on life support and fading fast, I argue that it is alive and well, albeit undergoing a regional realignment under the pressures of Russia’s military resurgence. Dr. Christopher Kirkey, Director of the Center for the Study of Canada and Institute on Québec Studies at the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh, describes this book as a “timely, compelling account of the international forces that influence and constrain the foundations and functions of Arctic collaboration.” Dr. Alan Tidwell, Director, Center for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Studies, Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University observes: “Barry Zellen delivers a thoughtful and inspired analysis of the Arctic world. His insights weave between the world of great power competition to the intricacies of indigenous identity. No scholar or policymaker interested in the Arctic can miss Zellen’s views. Arctic Exceptionalism: Cooperation in a Contested World will long be a standard against which Arctic scholarship will be measured.”
