Klaus Dodds is Professor of Geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University of London.
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Commentary
Rendez-vous
at Reykjavik
Klaus Dodds
The first meeting of the Arctic Circle grouping (or more accurately a ‗new assembly for international
co-operation on Arctic issues‘) will take place in the Icelandic city of Reykjavik in October 2013. I
won‘t be able to attend so will have to console myself with a more virtual presence. Looking at the
official website (
http://www.arcticcircle.org/
), and monitoring the tweets from the official twitter
site of the Arctic Circle grouping (
https://twitter.com/ArcticSummit
), it would appear that
preparations are mounting for this autumnal meeting. What might this ‗assembly‘ achieve and why
might it matter? This short commentary offers some tentative answers.
We should remind ourselves, firstly, of the published mission statement of this grouping before
reviewing the background to its creation. The rationale for the ‗assembly‘ is described in the
following terms:
The mission of the Arctic Circle is to facilitate dialogue and build relationships to address
rapid changes in the Arctic. With sea ice levels at their lowest point in recorded history, the
world is waking up to the challenges and opportunities this presents for all of us. We aim
to strengthen the decision-making process by bringing together as many international
partners as possible to interact under one large ―open tent‖.
When this mission statement first emerged it did cause some alarm because of the direct inference
that ‗decision making‘ and ‗international partners‘ need to be both improved and brought into
contact with one another in the context of the Arctic. The reference to an ‗open tent‘ remains an
intriguing one – an analogy that does not quite work as well as it might in English. While an open
tent might suggest greater possibilities for access, it might paradoxically be more susceptible to being
blown away in inclement conditions.
The integrity of a tent needs to be monitored and the mission statement is rather vague about who
or what might control access and stability of the said ‗open tent‘.
On April 17, 2013, the President of Iceland came to the National Press Club in New York to discuss
this initiative further.
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President Grímsson is a veteran politician. He is serving a fifth term as