Notes on the Arctic

Although the Artic has traditionally been regarded as a remote and secondary region in the shaping and evolution of the global power balances, Vicente López-Ibor Mayor, Luis Francisco Martínez Montes and Emilio Sánchez de Rojas Díaz set the record straight on this misconception is concerned and analyse the role that the zone has played throughout history: a far from insignificant function in the strategy of the major powers since the beginnings of the Modern Era. They also review Spain''s virtually fogotten, but by no means less fascinating, past involvement in the Artic (or rather peri-Artic). The perspective of these experts on the subject matter give some insight into the place that the Artic, as a consequence of its position and its resources, always had, hypothetically or in reality, and will very probably have in the international geopolitics of 21st Century. These three experts also give careful consideration to the Artic''s present and future, reviewing its constantly changing geopolitical role, the energy factor, the geoeconomics, the security and the conflicts, as well as its view from an International Law perspective.