At Opposite Poles: Canada’s and Norway’s approaches to security in the Arctic

Abstract

Canada and Norway are similar in many ways. They share a strong commitment to international law and humanitarian issues, consistently rank amongst the most developed countries in the world, and have aligned themselves with the United States on security matters. They are also two of the five Arctic coastal states that have most actively engaged in northern issues over the last decade. Yet, on the issue of security in the Arctic, their interests have historically differed. This difference came to the fore during the governments of Stephen Harper (2006–2015) and Jens Stoltenberg (2005–2013). This article compares the divergent approaches to security and national defence in Canada and Norway under the Harper and Stoltenberg governments. It asks what role traditional military concerns in the circumpolar region had for the two countries during the period, and how threat perceptions in Ottawa and Oslo shaped their respective Arctic policies. We argue that, to understand the contrasting approaches to Arctic security, two factors are key: (1) the inherent difference in the two countries’ approach to, and utilisation of, NATO as a defence alliance; and (2) a clear difference in the role the Arctic holds for security considerations in the two countries given their disparate geographic locations. Ultimately, we make the case that to understand the different approaches adopted by Canada and Norway during the period examined, the Arctic needs to be understood not as one uniform region, but instead as a series of sub-regions where the dominant security variable – Russia – is present to a greater or lesser degree.

Keywords:

• Nato
• Arctic
• security
• Russia
• defence
• Canada
• Norway

Notes

¹ Arthur, Rise and Fall of a Middle Power; Haglund, “And the Beat Goes On.” On Norway see Tamnes, Oljealder 1965–1995, Norsk utenrikspolitisk historie [Oil Age: Norwegian History of Foreign Policy].

² Human security was a concept that was promoted by both Canada and Norway in the early 1990s. It was meant to offer an alternative to the dominant, state-centric concept of security.

³ Griffiths, “Towards a Canadian Arctic Strategy”; Hønneland and Rowe, Nordområdene - Hva Nå? [The High North - What Now?].

⁴ Tamnes, “Arctic Security and Norway”; Flikke, “Norway and the Arctic.”

⁵ Interview with Former Canadian Diplomat, Global Affairs Canada, Vancouver, BC, January 9, 2017; Interview with Government Official Canada II, Directorate of NATO Policy, Global Affairs Canada, Copenhagen, October 12, 2016; Hilde, “Armed Forces and Security Challenges in the Arctic”; Ivison, “Canada under Increasing Pressure”; “Canadian PM and NATO S-G Discuss Afghanistan, the Strategic Concept, and the Arctic.”

⁶ See the List of Interviews at the end of this article.

⁷ For a range of approaches to this issue, see Young, “Whither the Arctic?”; Exner-Pirot, “What is the Arctic a Case of?”; Padrtová, “The Arctic Regional Security Complex?”; Welch, “The Arctic and Geopolitics”; Weber, “Security Fears Growing in the Arctic Region” ; Greaves and Lackenbauer, “Re-Thinking Sovereignty and Security in the Arctic”; and Borgerson, “Arctic Meltdown.”

⁸ Hoogensen Gjørv and Goloviznina, “Introduction.”

⁹ Borgerson, “Arctic Meltdown” and “The Great Game Moves North”; Huebert, “Submarines, Oil Tankers and Icebreakers.”

¹⁰ Tamnes and Offerdal, “Conclusion”; Keil, “The Arctic.”

¹¹ Expert Commission, “Unified Effort,” 17, 20.

¹² Zysk, “Military Aspects of Russia’s Arctic Policy”; Danish Ministry of Defence, “Forsvarsministeriets fremtidige opgaveløsning i Arktis” [Future Missions of the Danish Ministry of Defence in the Arctic]; U.S. Coast Guard, “United States Coast Guard Arctic Strategy”; and Expert Commission, “Unified Effort.”

¹³ Dyndal, “How the High North became Central in NATO Strategy.”

¹⁴ Speech by NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on security prospects in the High North, January 29, 2009; Hilde and Widerberg, “NATOs nye strategiske konsept og Norge” [NATO’s new strategic concept and Norway].

¹⁵ Hilde, “The “new” Arctic.”

¹⁶ Åtland, Security Implications of Climate Change in the Arctic.

¹⁷ Interview with Government Official Canada, Defence and Security Relations Division, Global Affairs Canada, Oslo, February 5, 2015; Interview with Government Official Canada II, Directorate of NATO Policy, Global Affairs Canada, Copenhagen, October 12, 2016”; Haftendorn, “NATO and the Arctic.”

¹⁸ Byers, International Law and the Arctic; Hilde, “Armed Forces and Security Challenges in the Arctic.”

¹⁹ European Union, “EU Sanctions against Russia over Ukraine Crisis.”

²⁰ Åtland, “North European Security after the Ukraine Conflict”; Østhagen, “High North, Low Politics Maritime Cooperation with Russia in the Arctic.”

²¹ Barnes, “U.S. Navy Begins Arctic Exercise.”

²² Government of Canada, “Strong, Secure, Engaged.”

²³ Government of Canada, “Canada’s Northern Strategy.”

²⁴ Lackenbauer, “Polar Race or Polar Saga?”

²⁵ Not including the Svalbard Archipelago.

²⁶ Huebert, “Canadian Arctic Sovereignty and Security,” 19–20.

²⁷ Byers, International Law and the Arctic.

²⁸ Sharp, “An Old Problem.”

²⁹ Griffiths, “Arctic Security.”

³⁰ Shadian, “In Search of an Identity Canada Looks North.”

³¹ “Agreement Between the Government of Canada and the Government of the United States.”

³² “Canada – United States.”

³³ Lackenbauer, “Polar Race or Polar Saga?”

³⁴ MacAskill, “Canada Uses Military Might in Arctic Scramble.”

³⁵ Byers, “The North Pole is a Distraction.”

³⁶ CBC News, “Canadian Fighter Jets Intercept Russian Bombers in Arctic”; Lackenbauer, “Mirror Images?”; Wallin and Dallaire, Sovereignty and Security in Canada’s Arctic.

³⁷ Byers, “Why Canada’s Search for an Icebreaker is an Arctic Embarrassment.”

³⁸ Cox and Speer, “From a Mandate for Change to a Plan to Govern,” 4.

³⁹ Byers, “Why Canada’s Search for an Icebreaker is an Arctic Embarrassment.”

⁴⁰ Lasserre and Têtu, “Russian Air Patrols in the Arctic.”

⁴¹ During the 1985 incident with the USCG Polar Sea, for example, the USSR came out in support of Canada’s position diplomatically. See Howson, “The Canadian-American Dispute over the Arctic’s Northwest Passage.”

⁴² Perreault, “The Arctic Linked to the Emerging Dominant Ideas in Canada’s Foreign and Defence Policy”; Furgal and Seguin, “Climate Change, Health, and Vulnerability in Canadian Northern Aboriginal Communities”; Power, “Conceptualizing Food Security for Aboriginal People in Canada.”

⁴³ Griffiths, “Arctic Security,” 10–11; Griffiths, “Towards a Canadian Arctic Strategy.”

⁴⁴ Jockel and Sokolsky, “Continental Defence.”

⁴⁵ Jockel and Sokolsky, “Canada and NATO.”

⁴⁶ Lackenbauer, “From Polar Race to Polar Saga,” 73.

⁴⁷ Støre, “The High North and the Arctic.”

⁴⁸ For some excellent overviews of this debate, see Keil, “The Arctic”; and Grindheim, The Scramble for the Arctic?

⁴⁹ Tamnes, Oljealder 1965–1995: Norsk utenrikspolitisk historie [Oil Age: Norwegian History of Foreign Policy].

⁵⁰ Tamnes, “Arctic Security and Norway”; Tamnes, Oljealder 1965–1995 [Oil Age].

⁵¹ Neumann et al., “Norge og alliansene: Gamle tradisjoner, nytt spillerom” [Norway and the Alliances: Old Traditions, New Room for Manoeuvre].

⁵² Jensen and Hønneland, “Framing the High North.”

⁵³ Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “St.meld. Nr. 30 (2004–2005): Muligheter og utfordringer i nord” [No. 30 (2004–2005) to the Storting: Opportunities and Challenges in the North]; Orheim et al., NOU 2003:32 Mot Nord! Utfordringer og muligheter i Nordområdene [Official Norwegian Report: Towards the North! Challenges and Opportunities in the High North]; Brunstad et al., Big Oil Playground, Russian Bear Preserve Or European Periphery?; ECON, “2025 Ringer i vannet” [2025 Circles in the Water].

⁵⁴ See Bigg, “Russia: Trawler Escapes Norwegian Coast Guard While Still Carrying Inspectors.”

⁵⁵ Jensen and Hønneland, “Framing the High North”; Grindheim, The Scramble for the Arctic?

⁵⁶ Støre, “Arctic State”; Moe, Fjærtoft, and Øverland, “Space and Timing”; Støre, “The High North and the Arctic.”

⁵⁷ Grindheim, The Scramble for the Arctic? 6–10.

⁵⁸ Hønneland, “Norsk-russisk miljø- og ressursforvaltning i Nordområdene” [Norwegian–Russian Environmental and Resource Management in the High North].

⁵⁹ Lavrov and Støre, “Canada, Take Note.”

⁶⁰ Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “The Norwegian Government’s High North Strategy”; Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Norway’s High North Strategy.”

⁶¹ Norwegian Government, “Norway’s Arctic Strategy.”

⁶² Håkenstad and Bogen, Balansegang: Forsvarets omstilling etter den kalde krigen (Balance: The Military's restructuring after the Cold War).

⁶³ See, for example, Expert Commission, “Unified Effort”; Norwegian Intelligence Service, “Focus 2015.”

⁶⁴ The minority coalition consisted of the Conservative party (blue) and the Progress party (blue), which had the support of the Liberal party and the Christian Democratic Party in parliament.

⁶⁵ Expert Commission, “Unified Effort.”

⁶⁶ Søreide, “NATO and the North Atlantic.”

⁶⁷ Norwegian Intelligence Service, “Fokus 2016.”

⁶⁸ See, for example, Government of Canada, “Canada and the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949.”

⁶⁹ Crosby, “A Middle-Power Military in Alliance,” 37–38.

⁷⁰ Halloran, “A Planned and Phased Reduction.”

⁷¹ Granatstein, Canada’s Army.

⁷² Tamnes and Holtsmark, “The Geopolitics of the Arctic in Historical Perspective.”

⁷³ Rempel, Counterweights.

⁷⁴ Haglund, “Canada and the Atlantic Alliance.”

⁷⁵ Zyla, Sharing the Burden; Sokolsky, “Over There with Uncle Sam.”

⁷⁶ Massie, “Canada’s War for Prestige in Afghanistan.”

⁷⁷ See, for example, Staveland, “Send norske styrker til Sør-Afghanistan” [Send Norwegian forces to South–Afghanistan].

⁷⁸ Maclachlan and Wolfraim, “End of a NATO Era?”

⁷⁹ Berthiaume, “Harjit Sajjan Defends Canada’s Military Budget.”

⁸⁰ Børresen, Gjeseth, and Tamnes, Allianseforsvar i endring 1970–2000 [Changing Defence through Alliances 1970–2000].

⁸¹ Tamnes, “Arctic Security and Norway.”

⁸² Haraldstad, “Embetsverkets rolle i utformingen av norsk sikkerhetspolitikk: Nærområdeinitiativet” [The Role of the Bureaucracy in Shaping Norwegian Security Policy].

⁸³ Ibid.

⁸⁴ Norwegian Ministry of Defence, “Collective Defence in Today’s Security Environment”; Hilde and Widerberg, “NATOs nye strategiske konsept og Norge” [NATO’s New Strategic Concept and Norway].

⁸⁵ Haftendorn, “NATO and the Arctic.”

⁸⁶ Huebert, “Canadian Arctic Sovereignty and Security.”

⁸⁷ Interview with Government Official Canada III, Canadian Delegation to NATO, Brussels, August 29, 2014.

⁸⁸ Byers, Who Owns the Arctic?, 59–74; Lackenbauer, “Polar Race or Polar Saga?”

⁸⁹ Massie, “Canada’s War for Prestige in Afghanistan.”

⁹⁰ The U.S. commander of USNORTHCOM also commands NORAD.

⁹¹ Mandraud, “Russia Prepares for Ice-Cold War”; Barnes, “Cold War Echoes Under the Arctic Ice”; Borgerson, “Arctic Meltdown.”

⁹² Government of Canada, “Strong, Secure, Engaged.”

⁹³ Hilde, “The “new” Arctic.”

⁹⁴ Expert Commission, “Unified Effort.”

⁹⁵ See Dodds and Nuttall, The Scramble for the Poles.

⁹⁶ Karlsen, “Venter ikke angrep fra Russland. Men vi ligger der vi ligger” [Do Not Expect Attack from Russia. But We Are Where We Are].

⁹⁷ Rennie, “Stephen Harper Raises Spectre of Russian Threat”; Østhagen, “Ukraine Crisis and the Arctic.”