Arctic as a 'global common'

P K GAUTAM, fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses advocates a stance on the Arctic region as a global 'common' and calls for protection of its unique ecology and calls upon New Delhi to play an increasingly active role in Arctic affairs through ad-hoc observer membership of the Arctic Council similar to its stance in global "commons" negotiations such as space and climate change.

In his IDSA issue brief, "The Arctic as a Global Common", he states that the current discourse on the Arctic was dominated by the Arctic five and the Arctic Council with the focus more around territorial and economic claims, and resource exploitation rather than protection of the unique ecology of the Arctic.

He avers that Arctic and the preservation of its ecology could be positioned as a "common heritage of mankind", the concept by which global 'commons' such as seabed, ocean floor, outer space, lunar minerals, geostationary orbit, solar energy, internet etc. are currently governed.

Analysis of Russian Arctic Policy

ELANA WILSON ROWE of the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs, MARLENE LARUELLE at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University and DMITRY GORENBURG, editor of Russian Politics and Law analyze aspects of Russia's Arctic policy such as politics in the Russian North, demographics and the role of the Russian military in the Arctic, in a study, "Russian Policy Options in the Arctic" for the Russian analytical digest.
Elana Wilson Rowe provides an introduction to the politics of the Russian North, and outlines the dichotomy of an ‘open’ North with wider international co-operation and a ‘closed’ North with an emphasis on defending its national interests and authority and calls for greater attention on the overlaps and tensions between these two modes. 
Marlene Laruelle reviews the Moscow's demographic challenges in the Russian Arctic and states that as it embarked on greater resource extraction in the region, Moscow would have to address challenges to key aspects of its Russian identity in the wake of an influx of migrants from Central Asia and China.
Dmitry Gorenburg states that Russia’s military and security strategy in the Arctic has shifted from unilateral military posturing to peaceful dispute resolution due to a perception of a co-operative approach as being more conducive to exploration and investment in Arctic natural resources. He states that the Arctic was unexpectedly becoming a venue for strengthening international cooperation although the role of growing non-Arctic powers such as China and Korea was an unknown for the near future.

Arctic Melt

Charles K Ebinger & Evie Zambetakis, of the Energy Security Initiative at Brookings Institution state that the prospect of longer ice-free periods in the Arctic has momentous implications for the region's commercial development, in itself a further risk to melting Arctic ice. In an article in International Affairs, Chatham House' bi-monthly, "The Geopolitics of Arctic Melt",they argue that Arctic melt does and will continue to pose economic, military and environmental challenges to the governance of the region and explore the role of technological factors as both a barrier and an enabler of access and that working within existing institutions and building capacity is preferable to the proliferation of new institutions, although the full structure and scope of the legal and regulatory frameworks that may be needed are, at present, unclear.