The Arctic Council and the New Geopolitics: Cooperation between Nordic Countries and Northeast Asian Countries

The purpose of this research is to present that the cooperation between Nordic countries and Northeast Asian countries on the Arctic issues is a result of geo-strategies of each state and that their geo-strategies contributed to reinforcement of the Arctic Council. Therefore, this research aims to show that in analyzing the Arctic Council the New-geopolitics as well as regime theory is useful. The New-geopolitical thought emphasizes that states which want to control certain region use indirect methods to control a region. The indirect methods mean that states use international regimes or international institutions to control a region rather than military power. This research chose four countries as subjects of analysis: Norway, Denmark, South Korea and China. In addition, the analysis of international regimes in this research focuses on the Arctic Council because it is the most important international regime among international regimes related to the Arctic Ocean.
This paper is composed of five chapters. The chapter 1 introduces the purpose, subjects and method of this research. In the chapter 2, geopolitics and regime theory are described as theoretical backgrounds. The chapter 3 consists of three parts: first, geopolitical values of the Arctic Ocean, second, Northeast Asian countries'' geopolitical motives and geo-strategies on the Arctic Ocean, and third, Nordic countries'' geopolitical motives and geo-strategies on the Arctic Ocean. The chapter 4 analyzes the Arctic Council as one of the international regimes related to the Arctic Ocean by using the New-geopolitical thoughts. The chapter 4 also consists of three parts: regional governance in the Arctic region, cooperation as a result of geo-strategies and analysis of the Arctic Council. The chapter 5 is the conclusion of this paper that summarized the results of this research.
The results of this research can be summarized by three points. First, the cooperation between Nordic countries and Northeast Asian countries is being enhanced and it contributes to the enforcement of the Arctic Council. Second, as previously mentioned, the cooperation is a result of the indirect method to control the region, the Arctic. Third, in addition to regime theory, the New-geopolitical thinking is also useful to explain international regimes related to the Arctic Ocean.
The cooperation on the Arctic issues between Nordic countries and Northeast Asian countries is being increased and it helps Northeast Asian countries to participate in international regime related to the Arctic Ocean including the Arctic Council. It causes both of quantitative and qualitative development of memberships of these regimes and ultimately brings development of these regimes. Their cooperation can be explained as the one caused by their geopolitical motives and also can be understood as a result of the indirect method to control the Arctic region. Therefore, the New-geopolitical thought is useful along with regime theory in explaining international regimes related to the Arctic Ocean. The international regimes related to the Arctic Ocean can be categorized and analyzed by using regime theory because they are also parts of the international regimes. In analyzing these regimes, however, geopolitical thought is helpful because main issues which these regimes manage are those of the certain region, the Arctic Ocean.
In conclusion, this research found that there is the cooperation between Northeast Asian countries and Nordic countries on the Arctic issues. Furthermore, this research also found that this cooperation has contributed to the reinforcement of international regimes related to the Arctic Ocean and it can be explained by the New-geopolitical thought as well as regime theory. This research doesn''t include Russia and USA as research subjects because this research focused on the cooperation between Northeast Asian countries and Nordic countries. However, it is obvious that Russia and USA are important actors in the Arctic region. Therefore, it is required including Russia and USA as research subjects to research international regimes related to the Arctic Ocean in future.