With NATO activity increasing and great power competition building between the US, Russia and China across the Arctic, the Alliance needs to consider a new strategic approach to the region. Duncan Depledge examines how NATO’s traditionally cautious approach to the Arctic is now outmoded given the recent pressures posed by Russian military activity, Chinese ambition and the renewal of US strategic interest in the region. In response, NATO must go beyond simply restating its interest in the Arctic and devise a new strategic approach that normalises Alliance engagement, keeps a weather eye on Chinese ambitions, and leaves scope for expanding Alliance activity still further as the region is transformed by environmental and geopolitical change.

BANNER IMAGE: US Marines and Norwegian soldiers conduct patrol base reconnaissance during Exercise White Ulfberht in Setermoen, Norway, 2019. Courtesy of US Marine Corps/Ashley McLaughlin