Environmental Détente: U.S.-Russia Arctic science diplomacy through political tensions

ABSTRACT

The Arctic has long been the setting for collaborative scientific discovery, but tensions related to the Cold War and now the worsening conflict in Ukraine have curtailed effective cooperation. At the same time, the intensifying climate emergency that disproportionately threatens the Arctic has been described as a security threat by policymakers in both the U.S. and Russia, leading to calls for more science diplomacy. This paper revisits the history of U.S.-Russia Arctic science diplomacy and examines how previous initiatives can help us to understand what can be achieved, as well as the challenges that have to be addressed. Science diplomacy can produce valuable results and may form a suitable communication channel during times of political tensions. However, it is also clear that science cooperation is more easily realised during periods of cordial relations.

KEYWORDS:

• Arctic
• science diplomacy
• United States
• Russia
• cooperation
• international relations

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Duncan Depledge, Klaus Dodds, Gregory Hersh, Elana Wilson Rowe, Alexander Sergunin and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Though sometimes used interchangeably, not all science diplomacy is science cooperation and vice versa. Science diplomacy is broadly defined as the interaction between foreign policy and science, whereas science cooperation on its own does not imply the involvement of political actors and interests. Cooperation between scientists does not always have diplomatic implications.

² Schweitzer, “Early U.S.-Soviet Scientific Relations”

³ Bertelsen, “Arctic as a Laboratory of Global Governance”

⁴ IPCC, “Polar Regions”

⁵ Berkman and Vylegzhanin, Building Common Interests

⁶ Dodds and Nuttall, “Scramble for the Poles”

⁷ Berkman, “Evolution of Science Diplomacy”

⁸ Turekian, “Evolution of Science Diplomacy”

⁹ Berkman, “Polar science diplomacy”

¹⁰ Royal Society, “New Frontiers in Science Diplomacy”

¹¹ Ruffini, “What Is Science Diplomacy?”

¹² Flink, “Taking the pulse of science diplomacy”

¹³ Mayer, “Chaotic Climate Change and Security”

¹⁴ Haas, “Epistemic Communities”

¹⁵ Osherenko and Young, “Formation of International Regimes”

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¹⁷ Royal Society, “New Frontiers in Science Diplomacy”“

¹⁸ Nilsson, “Changing Arctic Climate”; Corell, “ACIA Progress Report”

¹⁹ Kankaanpää & Young, “Effectiveness of the Arctic Council”

²⁰ Gutenev, “Nauchnaya diplomatiya”

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²³ Ivanian, “Entsiklopediya rossiysko-amerikanskikh otnosheniy”

²⁴ Taylor, “First International Polar Year”

²⁵ Weyprecht, “Scientific Work”

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²⁷ Lyubovtseva et al., “Sixtieth anniversary of the International Geophysical Year.”

²⁸ Turchetti, “Origins of the Cold War.”

²⁹ Brain, “Appeal of Appearing Green.”

³⁰ Turchetti, “Origins of the Cold War.”

³¹ Doel et al., “Strategic Arctic Science.”

³² The election of Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev coincided with relaxed control and censorship.

³³ Adams, “Networks in Action.”

³⁴ English, Russia and the Idea of the West, 106–7.

³⁵ Launius, “Toward the Poles.”

³⁶ Korsmo and Sfraga, “From interwar to Cold War.”

³⁷ Doel et al., “Strategic Arctic Science.”

³⁸ Korsmo, “Genesis of the IGY.”

³⁹ The agreement covered U.S.-Soviet exchanges in cultural, technical, and educational fields; Schweitzer, “Scientific Cooperation on the Rebound.”

⁴⁰ U.S. EPA, “U.S. and U.S.S.R. Environmental Cooperation Treaty.”

⁴¹ Ibid.

⁴² Fikkan, Osherenko and Arikainen, “Polar Bears.”

⁴³ Devyatkin, “Environmental Détente.”

⁴⁴ Reagan Library, “Joint Statement Following Soviet-United States Summit.”

⁴⁵ Orttung et al., “Cold War Legacy of Science Cooperation.”

⁴⁶ ‌Åtland, “Gorbachev, the Murmansk Initiative.”

⁴⁷ Young, “Governing the Arctic.”

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⁵¹ Bertelsen, “Science Diplomacy; Scrivener, “Arctic environmental cooperation.”

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⁵⁷ Degai et al, “Shaping Arctic”s Tomorrow”; Sörlin, “Emerging Arctic humanities.”

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⁶¹ U.S. EPA, “Black Carbon Diesel.”

⁶² McFarland, “Eastern Arctic Ocean”

⁶³ Polyakov, “One Ocean, Many Minds”

⁶⁴ Arctic.ru, “Great Effort Is Needed to Advance Science”

⁶⁵ Staalesen, “Expedition to Land of Great Change”

⁶⁶ Delue, “NABOS ArcGIS”

⁶⁷ Staalesen, “Expedition to Land of Great Change”

⁶⁸ Crane & Ostrovsky, “RUSALCA”

⁶⁹ Alliance Group, “Eta programma po Arktike”

⁷⁰ Ibid.

⁷¹ Carvellas, “Dispatches from Professor Khromov”

⁷² Jones, “Sovereignty, Oil Hunt Complicate Arctic Research”

⁷³ Ibid.

⁷⁴ Alliance Group, ““Eta programma po Arktike”

⁷⁵ Ibid.

⁷⁶ Krupnik et al. “Understanding Earth”s Polar Challenges”

⁷⁷ Kintisch, “Cold War in a Warming Place”

⁷⁸ RUSALCA, “Main page”

⁷⁹ Ibid.

⁸⁰ Crane, “RUSALCA Exemption”

⁸¹ Eaton, “Science diplomacy in Atlantic Arctic”

⁸² Yan, “Arctic Exploration”

⁸³ IASC, “MOSAiC Science Plan”

⁸⁴ Ibid.

⁸⁵ Shupe et al., “Arctic Report Card”

⁸⁶ Rüffin and Rüland, “Between global collaboration and national competition”

⁸⁷ Hall, “Coronavirus Shutdown Forces Research Ship to Break out of Arctic Ice”

⁸⁸ Balton, “Can the US and Russia Return to Co-Operation?”

⁸⁹ Showstack, “Science Cooperation Pact”

⁹⁰ Ward, Latola and Vlasova, “Scientific Cooperation within the Arctic”

⁹¹ Sergunin, “Implementing Arctic Science Cooperation Agreement”

⁹² Ward, Latola and Vlasova, “Scientific Cooperation within the Arctic”

⁹³ ASM3, “Addressing Gaps and Barriers”

⁹⁴ IASC, “State of Arctic Science”

⁹⁵ Orttung et al., “Cold War Legacy of Science Cooperation”

⁹⁶ Ministry of Science and Education, “Sovmestnyye issledovatel”skiye proyekty Rossii i Kitaya”

⁹⁷ Rungius and Flink, “Romancing science for global solutions”

⁹⁸ Kintisch, “Cold War in a Warming Place”

⁹⁹ TASS, “Nazvali Oshibkoy Otkaz v Publikatsii Stat”i Uchenykh Iz RF”

¹⁰⁰ Bertelsen, “Arctic as a Laboratory of Global Governance”

¹⁰¹ Dickie and Gardner, “Arctic Council in upheaval”

¹⁰² Edvardsen, “Arctic Council Paused”

¹⁰³ IASC, “Statement on Ukraine”

¹⁰⁴ Interfax, “MID osudil resheniye semi stran priostanovit” uchastiye v Arkticheskom sovete”

¹⁰⁵ Steinbuch, “Kerry hopes Putin will focus on climate”

¹⁰⁶ White House, “Guidance on Cooperation with Russian Federation”

¹⁰⁷ NSF, “ARC-NAV,” “Navigating Convergent Pressures,” “Interactions of Natural and Social Systems”

¹⁰⁸ Government of Canada, “Agreement to prevent unregulated high seas fisheries”

¹⁰⁹ Gorchakov Fund, “Arkticheskiye sessii”

¹¹⁰ Gach, “Arctic research on its head”