The Worldviews of Ice: Constructions of the Arctic at the Science/Politics Interface

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Mathias Albert; Professor Dr. Holger Straßheim
• Subject Area: Political Science
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 459301855

The project studies how competing narratives of the Arctic, imbued with geopolitical images, are produced in, and altered through, closely connected epistemic communities that link the sciences to politics. Its aim is (1) to trace how these images are co-produced at relevant interfaces between scientific and political communities dealing with Arctic issues, (2) to inquire how these images are transmitted into, and received within, wider Arctic epistemic communities, and (3) to show in an exemplary fashion how such images can influence, and actually have influenced, policy-making.On the one hand, the project builds on the by now well-established insight that the Arctic region is a social and spatial construction, and that such constructions shape the formulation of both regional governance problems and their possible solutions. On the other hand, it builds on the fact that little thus far is known on how these constructions come into being, become firmly established, change or fall apart in the governance process. It takes the central role of science in Arctic governance as a starting point in order to investigate how social constructions of the Arctic are created and actualized through scientific practices and under which conditions these are translated at the science/politics interface. The project starts from the observation that science and politics do not relate to each other in simple or punctual communicative interaction settings, but are tied together in competing narratives that influence, and in turn are influenced by, images of how the world (in this case: the Arctic) looks like. The project studies the evolution of these narratives and underlying images through epistemic communities and science/politics networks. Building on extensive previous work by both PIs, the project looks at different boundary constellations at the science/policy nexus in three closely related case studies, selected in order to represent an ideal-typical, sequential understanding of the process of knowledge generation: firstly, the setting of the conditions for research through funding priorities and programmes; secondly, the framing and conduct of actual research; thirdly, the transmission of research results at the interface between science and politics. In the case studies, these constellations are specified as (a) the interaction between scientific actors in the field of Arctic research and public funding agencies in three select countries, (b) the framings used by natural scientists working on the Arctic from a select variety of countries and disciplines, and (c) the intensity and quality of the interaction between scientists and political actors at the Arctic Council as the main forum for informed regional governance. The project contributes both theoretically and empirically to current research on the role of knowledge and expertise in geopolitics and international relations.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants