Arctic Policies Of United States During The Period Of Bush Administration

As global warming intensifies,the Arctic region has brought opportunities and challenges to the global.On the one hand,Arctic melting will lead to the raise of sea levels,and influence the global climate and ecosystem dramatically,especially in the Arctic region.On the other hand,the decrease of the ice extent area created favorable conditions for the Arctic passages.Taking energy resources,natural resources,fishery resources,tourism resources and scientific investigation into consideration,establishing appropriate Arctic policies is critical for Arctic countries.As the only superpower in the world,the influence of United States in Arctic region is far less than that of Russia,Canada and other countries.The main reason is that Arctic region is not a significant threat to the national security of United states since the end of Cold War.However,United States started to attach great importance to Arctic region since more and more countries with interests in Arctic introduced their own Arctic policies recently.This thesis discussed the fundamental interests and claims of the United States in Arctic region through analyzing "National Security Presidential Directive 66/Homeland Security Presidential Directive 25" signed by former president George W.Bush and "National Strategy for the Arctic Region" signed by former president Barack Obama.The analysis of backgrounds and interpretation of policies were done on the national security and homeland security,maritime domain and boundary issues,freedom of the seas,energy issues and environmental protections,to understand the motivation of establishing these policies.The national security and homeland security in Arctic are always the most important for United States.Because of the special geological position of Arctic,several countries deploy military force in this region all the time.Compared with other countries,military capability and infrastructure of United States in this region seem pretty weak.Combined with the emergence of non-traditional security threats,recently United States is shifting its focus to Arctic.On the other hand,to preserve American hegemony,maritime domain and freedom of the seas are two important aspects which United States will not give up.The "Agreement Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Maritime Boundary"signed by former Soviet Foreign Minister and United States in 1990 determined the maritime borders in the area of Bering Strait and Chukchi sea.However,the governments of former Soviet and Russia never approve this agreement.Also,there is territorial dispute between United states and Canada in Beaufort Sea.Finally,another focus issue is the resources in Arctic.There are abundant energy resources in Alaska state,energy issue is an important part in the Arctic policies of Bush administration.And this issue was risen to the height of energy security in the Arctic policies of Obama administration.We also investigated the related documents,reports and specific actions made by executive departments and agencies before and after the release of Arctic strategies.