Geopoliticsnorth

The ground is not supposed to move. For millennia, permafrost sat solid and silent under the communities, roads, and work camps of the circumpolar North—a frozen basement you never had

The northern latitudes are built on a paradox. For millennia, ice-rich permafrost has served as a stable foundation for roads, runways, pipelines, entire settlements. That foundation is now degrading—faster, and

By Dr. Ingrid Halvorsen Walk across the tundra in late summer and you can feel it. The ground that should be solid has a springy, almost sponge-like give under your

A road buckles without warning. A concrete pile, driven deep into what was once reliable permafrost, tilts—a fraction of a degree at first—then lurches, cracking the foundation of a transmission

Why Arctic Indigenous Communities Need a Bigger Role in Governance By Dr. Ingrid Halvorsen | April 7, 2025 The Arctic is changing faster than most models predicted. Sea ice pulls

The Strategic Theatre of the High North Geography doesn’t negotiate. Norway sits at the top of Europe, sharing a 198-kilometre land border with Russia and overseeing enormous maritime zones above

In the geopolitics of the High North, few things have drawn as much attention as China’s methodical push to define itself as a “Near-Arctic State.” The phrase got its formal

In January 2018, China’s State Council Information Office released a white paper that planted a phrase squarely in the middle of Arctic governance debates: “Near-Arctic State.” The document, China’s Arctic

Early in 2018, China’s State Council Information Office dropped a white paper called China’s Arctic Policy. It did something quietly audacious. It declared the country a “Near-Arctic State.” The phrase

When Beijing dropped its first White Paper on Arctic Policy in January 2018, one phrase jumped off the page. “Near-Arctic state.” The words sat awkwardly. They had no anchor in