Conference / Meeting

The EU and the (Geo)Politics of the Arctic

Guest Lecture Series
7 March 2023
Start time 
2:15 pm
Palazzo Paolo Prodi - Via Tommaso Gar 14, Trento
Room 001
Organizer: 
School of International Studies
Target audience: 
Everyone
Attendance: 
Free

Abstract

The Arctic is a region in transformation. Facing challenges driven by resource demands, shifting power relations and climate change, the top of the world also demands the attention of an international actor that has not necessarily always been perceived as an Arctic one: the European Union (EU). Over the last fifteen years, the EU has felt an Arctic allure, with its various institutions attempting to formulate a coherent policy approach for its ‘Northern Neighbourhood.' Yet, what role does the Arctic offer for the EU? How can a Union of 27 states—only three of them Arctic, but most of them non-Arctic—protect its regional interests in an increasingly globalized circumpolar North? Moreover, what are these interests? After the EU’s decade-long northern efforts with only minor progress, one pivotal question remains: what is the future of the EU’s Arctic role?

Speaker

Andreas Raspotnik  - The Arctic Institute, Norway

Bio

Dr. Andreas Raspotnik is a Senior Fellow and Leadership Group member at The Arctic Institute. His research focuses on European Union Arctic policies, maritime transportation, international law, and new technologies’ introduction to the North. He received his jointly-awarded PhD in Political Science from the University of Cologne, Germany, and the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom in October 2016. His book on The European Union and the Geopolitics of the Arctic was published by Edward Elgar in January 2018.

Currently, Andreas is a Senior Research Fellow at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI) in Oslo and a Senior Researcher at the High North Center, Nord University in Bodø. At the High North Center, he managed the three-year project AlaskaNor (2018-2021), that examined and compared the blue economy potential of Alaska and North Norway. Andreas is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of European Studies, University of California, Berkeley and was the Austrian Marshall Plan Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC, from September 2021 to May 2022