The theme of the 2014 Academy is ‘Resource geopolitics - Sovereignty’ in the Arctic region, particularly the Barents Sea area. The focus is inspired by the fact that natural resources, options for them, and their governance play an important role in Arctic geopolitics and orthern security in the early-21st century. Resource geopolitics together with energy (security) has a long history in shaping and impacting the Arctic and the entire North. Climate change, (flows of) globalization, the mass-scale utilization of fossils, and the opening of new sea routes - the combination of these represents some sort of Arctic ‘paradox’ - together with a growing global interest in the Arctic and its resources have caused a new kind of pressure for Arctic states and nations, and the people living there, to be(come) concerned with the state of the Arctic environment. Their direct physical impacts and indirect impacts related to the economy and development, as well as the uncertainty related to climate change, are seen and interpreted as a new challenge, or even a threat, to state sovereignty and national security of the littoral states of the Arctic Ocean.

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