New study on Asian-Arctic science collaboration (Iceland, Japan, China)
Until recent years, science diplomacy and science collaboration have generally been seen as useful tools for building trust in international relations. However, a new Icelandic study shows how geopolitical developments are directly influencing the practical implementation and operation of science projects on the ground.
The new paper, published in Polar Journal, is titled, “Science diplomacy for stronger bilateral relations? The role of Arctic science in Iceland’s relations with Japan and China." The paper presents a comparative study of Iceland's science collaboration with Japan and China and it demonstrates how growing distrust of China in the past few years has made Iceland-China science collaboration increasingly difficult, bringing it into the national discourse in the context of security. Given current geopolitical developments, the connection between science collaboration, trust and security is likely to become increasingly important in both academia and diplomacy.
The paper is available here: https://doi.org/10.1080/2154896X.2024.2342114
Feel free to contact the authors for a free download of the paper.
About the authors: Kristín Ingvarsdóttir is Assistant Professor of Contemporary Japanese Studies at the University of Iceland. Guðbjörg Ríkey Th. Hauksdóttir is a Ph.D. Candidate in International Relations at the University of Iceland and a Predoctoral Fellow at Harvard Belfer Center’s Arctic Initiative.
Photo: The China-Iceland Arctic Observatory (CIAO) in northeast Iceland (Photo credit: Kristín Ingvarsdóttir, October 2022).