Considering ecological security from the perspective of Arctic ecosystemic politics
Considering ecological security from the perspective of Arctic ecosystemic politics

Summary/Abstract: Saami poet Nils-Aslak Valkeapa¨a hinted at social and political possibilities enabled by the Arctic ¨ ecosystem in his sweeping book of poems and images titled “The Sun, My Father” (Valkeapa¨a¨ 1997). He evoked a vision of the Arctic as a horizontal path of flows and conversation, with treeless expanses giving opportunity to roam and quiet and lengthy polar nights offering opportunity to speak—and listen. Bringing to mind these interconnections also emphasized the ecological and social interconnections of Sapmi, the indigenous homeland of the Sami people that has been ´ transected by the North–South national lines drawn across Nordic and Western Arctic (from today’s Norway to Russia). Similarly, Matt McDonald, in his recent book (2021), argues for shifting our perspective and tying our practices of governance more closely to the natural world. The argument he forwards is that, in the light of rapid planetary change, the object of security governance needs to expand beyond securing humans collectives and their institutions in fundamental ways. McDonald first explores how security thinking (both in policy and scholarly circles) has indeed been adapted to accommodate and adapt to the specific impacts of climate change and then outlines an agenda for rethinking security that goes beyond this current baseline.

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