Constructing Arctic security: an inter-disciplinary approach to understanding security in the Barents region

Although traditionally Security Studies focused on military threats to states' survival, however, since the end of the Cold War the concept of security has widened and individuals and communities have gradually become viewed as appropriate referent objects of security. In the Arctic region, the human population are exposed to multiple non-traditional and non-military threats resulting from environmental, economic, and societal changes, which can be understood as threats to human security. In this article, we argue that a comprehensive approach to human security overlaps with the concept of societal security, and must therefore consider threats to collective identity and the essential conditions necessary for the maintenance and preservation of a distinct society. We use the human security framework as an analytical tool to study the specific challenges that threaten the Arctic population, and in turn the well-being of Arctic societies. The article demonstrates that using the concept of human security can promote societal security in the context of the Arctic