The Arctic Ocean as a Political Space: Rethinking Territoriality and Governance in the Blue Horizon of Arctic Geopolitics

The Arctic Ocean is performing and witnessing a rapid geopolitical transformation due to climate change and shifting power dynamics. Therefore, it constitutes a unique case for rethinking political space and governance in oceanic contexts. The central purpose of this proposal is to discuss how the Arctic Ocean, as a political space, differs from other maritime regions and challenges traditional notions of territoriality and state sovereignty. The accelerated ice-melting process, being registered for several years now, has opened new shipping routes and exposed vast reserves of natural resources, prompting intensified competition between the region's states and external actors such as China. The more traditional governance frameworks demand a re-examination, particularly considering the role of the Arctic Council as a forum for cooperation (limited in present times by both its inability to address security and/or defence issues and by Russia's international reputation due to the war with Ukraine - and its consequences). By examining the interrelationship of issues relating to environmental change, resource competition and geopolitical rivalry - particularly between NATO states and Russia - this proposal argues that the Arctic can become an example of the fluidity of oceanic political space, where territorial claims will tend to be increasingly contested and demand for a correspondingly greater degree of negotiation, particularly through international law such as UNCLOS. Considering how the unique geopolitical context of the Arctic - marked by both cooperation and conflict - offers a critical perspective for broader political science theories of governance in non-terrestrial spaces, this study ultimately contributes to understanding how oceanic regions such as the Arctic challenge conventional political frameworks and require new approaches.