Arctic Sovereignty and Security: Rob Huebert
Rob Huebert is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Calgary and associate director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies. Dr. Huebert has taught at Memorial University, Dalhousie University, and the University of Manitoba. His area of research interests include: international relations, strategic studies, the Law of the Sea, maritime affairs, Canadian foreign and defence policy, and circumpolar relations. He publishes on the issue of Canadian Arctic Security, Maritime Security, and Canadian Defence. His work has appeared in International Journal; Canadian Foreign Policy; Isuma: Canadian Journal of Policy Research and Canadian Military Journal. He was a co-author of the Report To Secure a Nation: Canadian Defence and Security into the 21st Century; and co-editor of Commercial Satellite Imagery and United Nations Peacekeeping and Breaking Ice: Canadian Integrated Ocean Management in the Canadian North. He also comments on Canadian security and Arctic issues in both the Canadian and international media.
CANADIAN ARCTIC SECURITY: UNDERSTANDING AND RESPONDING TO THE COMING STORM
As both a research topic and area of policy development Arctic Security had long languished as a backwater. However, in the past few years concerns over Canadian Arctic Security have reached new heights of concern and attention. The Canadian public, its media and political elites are now heavily engaged in attempting to understand the issues surrounding the subject. Despite this newfound respect the subject is not properly understood, partially because the factors threatening Canada’s Arctic are complex and increasing. A proper understanding of how these factors are interacting in both the short and long term has not yet been achieved. Neither the long or short term impact has been properly understood. A second factor that has confounded efforts to understand the problem in policy terms is that the instruments needed to protect Canadian Arctic security are expensive and require long term coherent planning. These set backs have forced this issue to the back burner. However, the triple forces of climate change, northern resource development and geopolitical forces guarantee that even if Canadians wanted to ignore the coming challenges, these challenges will not ignore Canada. This project has two core objectives; to provide an analysis of the coming threats to the Canadian Arctic and what should be done to protect Canadians Arctic Security. What policy options have to be developed? How should the various levels of Government and Canadian civil society be thinking about the problem? What price should they be willing to pay?
CANADIAN ARCTIC SECURITY: UNDERSTANDING AND RESPONDING TO THE COMING STORM
As both a research topic and area of policy development Arctic Security had long languished as a backwater. However, in the past few years concerns over Canadian Arctic Security have reached new heights of concern and attention. The Canadian public, its media and political elites are now heavily engaged in attempting to understand the issues surrounding the subject. Despite this newfound respect the subject is not properly understood, partially because the factors threatening Canada’s Arctic are complex and increasing. A proper understanding of how these factors are interacting in both the short and long term has not yet been achieved. Neither the long or short term impact has been properly understood. A second factor that has confounded efforts to understand the problem in policy terms is that the instruments needed to protect Canadian Arctic security are expensive and require long term coherent planning. These set backs have forced this issue to the back burner. However, the triple forces of climate change, northern resource development and geopolitical forces guarantee that even if Canadians wanted to ignore the coming challenges, these challenges will not ignore Canada. This project has two core objectives; to provide an analysis of the coming threats to the Canadian Arctic and what should be done to protect Canadians Arctic Security. What policy options have to be developed? How should the various levels of Government and Canadian civil society be thinking about the problem? What price should they be willing to pay?