Decolonising Arctic geopolitics and security

Subaltern security dilemmas of the Sámi in times of the green transition and militarisation of the Arctic

Abstract

Ongoing geopolitical changes and the “arctification” of world politics are introducing new pressures on the Sámi people, whose lands stretch across the northernmost parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in Russia. While climate change has increased global and national interest in the Arctic region’s natural resources and logistical and transport potential already for some time, today land use in Sápmi is reshaped also by acute security and defense imaginaries which are promoting strong military build-up across the region. In this article, I discuss the challenges that these changes are presenting to the Sámi and to their ability to voice concern for their own rights, security and future. Focusing especially on the challenges associated with the energy transition as well as growing military land use, the article sketches out and introduces a notion of subaltern security dilemma (SSD), which is offered here as a tool for a critical, deconstructive and decolonial approach to the study of Arctic geopolitics and security in Sápmi and more broadly.