The overarching question imparting urgency to this exploration is: Can U.S.-Russian contention in cyberspace cause the two nuclear superpowers to stumble into war? In considering this question we were constantly reminded of recent comments by a prominent U.S. arms control expert: At least as dangerous as the risk of an actual cyberattack, he observed, is cyber operations’ “blurring of the line between peace and war.” Or, as Nye wrote, “in the cyber realm, the difference between a weapon and a non-weapon may come down to a single line of code, or simply the intent of a computer program’s user.”
The Arctic is on the economic and political agenda. How to best govern the vast maritime domains in the North coincides with global debates on ocean governance and the ‘blue economy’. At the same time, disputes over who has what rights at sea continue to emerge both in the Arctic and around the world. Cooperation with Russia in the North has also been postponed or cancelled altogether. However, there are areas and topics that will require collaboration with Russia, no matter the current political implications. Examples include protection of the marine environment and management of fishing, in particular in the Barents Sea, the Bering Strait region, and the Central Arctic Ocean. What issues should be addressed in this regard? What will be the challenges and implications of the invasion in Ukraine? What lessons does the Arctic hold for global ocean governance in general? This seminar will examine different dimension of ocean governance in the Arctic looking specifically at cooperation between Russia and the United States, as well as Norway.
Program
Format: Panel-discussion with 10-min introductory statements
3:30 - Welcome and Introduction
- Fran Ulmer, Senior fellow, Arctic Initiative, Belfer Center
3:40 - Opening Presentations
- Andrey Todorov, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Arctic Initiative, Belfer Center
- Andreas Østhagen, Senior Researcher, Fridtjof Nansen Institute & High North Center, and Fulbright Fellow at the Wilson Center / Belfer Center
4:00 - Moderated Discussion
4:30 - Audience Q&A
5:00 - End
Speakers
Andreas Østhagen is a Senior Research Fellow at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Oslo, Norway, a research institute concerned with international environmental, energy and resource management politics and law. Østhagen is also a Senior Fellow at The Arctic Institute, Washington, D.C.; an affiliated Senior Advisor at the High North Center at Nord University Business School; and an Associate Professor at Bjørknes University College, where he teaches the course "Geopolitics of the Arctic."
From the Norwegian Arctic, Andreas has been concerned with Arctic security issues and ocean politics for a decade. He started working for the Norwegian Government (North Norway European Office) in Brussels on EU-Arctic affairs (2010-2014), before switching to research and academia: for the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies (IFS) in Oslo (2014-2017), with shorter work-stints at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC (2011), the Walter & Duncan Gordon Foundation in Toronto, Canada (2013), and the Bren School of Environmental Science at University of California Santa Barbara (2019).
Østhagen holds a PhD in international relations from the University of British Columbia (UBC) focused on ocean politics and disputes; a Master of Science from the London School of Economics (LSE) in European and international affairs, and a bachelor’s degree in political economy from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
