A podcast on the Arctic and Antarctica
The planetary risks and economic opportunities of environmental change in the Arctic has over the past decade drawn the gaze of an increasing number of nations northwards, as new and established actors assert their stake in the region’s dynamic yet uncertain future. At the Earth’s southern extreme, Antarctica and its surrounding seas remains a complex arena of geopolitics practiced by both small states and major powers representing all the world’s other continents. The polar regions have thus become global crossroads where high stake science, economic interests and international relations converge.
Polar Geopolitics explores the global and regional implications of rapid climate change and rising international interest in the Arctic and Antarctica. Encompassing a broad array of issues related to geopolitics in the northern and southern polar areas, the podcast is centered around in-depth discussion and analysis with experts on the economic, scientific, societal and political dimensions of polar imperatives that include environmental protection and sustainable development; sovereignty and national security; shipping, infrastructure and natural resource exploitation; and the rights, interests and human security of indigenous peoples and northern communities, among other central topics pertaining to the polar regions.
The podcast applies multiple international relations perspectives—including e.g. realism, science diplomacy and critical geopolitics—to investigate and analyze current events and ongoing processes within governance and legal regimes such as the Arctic Council, Antarctic Treaty System and UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, as well as in scientific bodies like IASC and SCAR. The strategies and activities of individual states and other stakeholders are also explored on Polar Geopolitics, while the role of history, tourism, technology and other topics that impact the practice of geopolitics represent additional themes of the podcast.
Polar Geopolitics is produced in Stockholm, Sweden by Eric Paglia, whose PhD. dissertation ‘The Northward Course of the Anthropocene: Transformation, Temporality and Telecoupling in a Time of Environmental Crisis’ and other academic research has explored scientific and environmental aspects of geopolitics in the Arctic. He is also the host of the long-running environment and sustainability podcast ThinkGloballyRadio.org
(top photo: Alfred-Wegener-Institut / Mario Hoppman)
A podcast exploring the global and regional implications of rapid climate change and rising international interest in the Arctic and Antarctica.
