“Cooperative Security and Denuclearizing the Arctic”

Ernie Regehr, O.C., Senior Fellow in Arctic Security and Defence
June 28, 2019

Article by Ernie Regehr, O.C.
Senior Fellow in Arctic Security and Defence
The Simons Foundation
Published by the Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament
The Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, Nagasaki University (RECNA)
June 28, 2019

 

Visit the Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament at the link below for this article by Ernie Regehr, Senior Fellow in Arctic Security and Defence at The Simons Foundation Canada.

“Cooperative Security and Denuclearizing the Arctic”

Abstract: Geography alone will continue to ensure that, as long as the United States and Russia place nuclear deterrence at the centre of their security strategies, both offensive and defensive systems will be deployed in the Arctic. As changing climate conditions also bring more immediate regional security concerns to the fore, and even as east-west relations deteriorate, the Arctic still continues to develop as an international “security community” in which there are reliable expectations that states will continue to settle disputes by peaceful means and in accordance with international law. In keeping with, and seeking to reinforce, those expectations, the denuclearization of the Arctic has been an enduring aspiration of indigenous communities and of the people of Arctic states more broadly, even though the challenges are daunting, given that two members of that community command well over 90% of global nuclear arsenals. The vision of an Arctic nuclear-weapon-free zone nevertheless persists, and with that vision comes an imperative to promote the progressive denuclearization of the Arctic, even if not initially as a formalized nuclear-weapon-free zone, within the context of a broad security cooperation agenda.

 

 

 

Ernie Regehr, O.C. is Senior Fellow in Arctic Security and Defence at The Simons Foundation; Research Fellow at the Centre for Peace Advancement, Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo; and Chairman of Canadians for a Nuclear Weapons Convention, a project of Canadian Pugwash.