Description: Conversations defining the Arctic region often provoke debate and controversy--for scientists, this lies in the imprecise and imaginary line known as the Arctic Circle; for countries like Canada, Russia, the United States, and Denmark, such discussions are based in competition for land and resources; for indigenous communities, those discussions are also rooted in issues of rights. These shifting lines are only made murkier by the threat of global climate change. In the Arctic Ocean, the consequences of Earth's warming trend are most immediately observable in the multi-year and perennial ice that has begun to melt, which threatens ice-dependent microorganisms and, eventually, will disrupt all of Arctic life and raise sea levels globally.
In The Arctic, Klaus Dodds and Mark Nuttall offer concise answers to the myriad questions that arise when looking at the circumpolar North. They focus on its peoples, politics, environment, resource development, and conservation to provide critical information about how changes there can, and will, affect our entire globe and all of its inhabitants. Dodds and Nuttall explore how the Arctic's importance has grown over time, the region's role during the Cold War, indigenous communities and their history, and the past and future of the Arctic's governance, among other crucial topics.Brief description: Klaus Dodds is professor of geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University of London, and a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. He is a leading authority on geopolitics and is often invited to join panels at events and in the media (including on BBC TV and radio) on the subject of border issues. He has written a number of books for a variety of popular and academic audiences, including for Oxford University Press's Very Short Introduction series, and since 2006, he has written a monthly geopolitics column for Geographical Magazine. Dodds is a recipient of the Philip Leverhulme Prize, awarded to "outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising."