(Lecture presented at University of Ottawa (CIPS) on the occasion of 2024 CNWC Award for Lifetime Achievement in Nuclear Disarmament presented to Ernie Regehr)
Not so long ago, the Arctic was a region of low tension and high cooperation. In the brief interlude from the final years of the Cold War, and especially Mikhail Gorbachev’s famous 1987 call to establish the Arctic as a zone of peace, to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, several notable agreements on international cooperation were reached (especially the Arctic Council, but also on cross border search and rescue, oil spill mitigation, coast guard coordination, and fishing in the Central Arctic Ocean). The Arctic enjoyed a political narrative that dared to entertain visions of a zone of sustainable cooperative security.
Access lecture here: https://www.cips-cepi.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Regehr_PB_43-3.pdf