Geopolitics of Subsea Cables in the Arctic
Infrastructure is a critical way for humans to engage with the natural environment in the Arctic region, as it facilitates access, connection, inhabitation, and productivity. The Arctic Institute’s 2022 series on Infrastructure in the Arctic investigates infrastructure as a critical point of analysis for considering human impacts and needs in the Arctic, especially in its role as a mediator, or as an interface, between politics, government, people and the natural environment.
Subsea cables are essential parts of infrastructure, in that they serve to transmit all Internet data. For something so critical to our modern life they are well hidden in the depths of oceans and seas. Subsea cables have recently made headlines. The volcanic eruption in Tonga cut the fiber optic cable connecting ...