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Колонтитул левый
SUMMARY
This study is about the place and significance of the Arctic in the
world politics. The special emphasis is made on the Russian part of the
Arctic (the Russian Arctic Zone, RAZ). The authors paid a lot of attention
to the issue how the RAZ should be developed in the context of the
sustainable development paradigm. The study analyses what are the
Russian national interests in the area which bowl down to the following
priorities:
–the use of the RAZ as a resource base for the country’s economics;
–promotion of the Arctic as a region for international cooperation
and peace;
–the intensive use of the Northern Passage as a both national and
international transport system in the High North (to the benefit of the
Russian Federation).
At the same time, the book refers to the international dimensions
of the Arctic politics. Particularly, the analysis covers issues such as the
problems of delimitation of the outer continental shelf in the region,
monitoring the Arctic sea and air spaces, search and rescue operations,
prevention of oil pollution and other hazards, protection of maritime
biodiversity, both protection and promotion of ingenious peoples’
culture and livelihood, etc.
The study examines national strategies of each Arctic Council
member states as well as policies of international organizations (both
inter- and non-governmental) that are involved in the regional politics.
The authors tend to emphasize (with regret) the inclination to the (re)
militarization of the region by providing an empirical evidence to the
fact.
At the same time, they are quite optimistic about the future of the
region by concluding the study that they believe that cooperative rather
than confrontational patterns of behavior of key actors will prevail in the
Arctic.