The Meta-Tragedy of the Commons. Climate Change and the Securitization of the Arctic Region

The object of this paper is to analyze the current race for the securitization of the Arctic region. This situation is presented as a case of meta-tragedy of the Commons, as it embodies a tragedy within another tragedy. Or, in other terms, the international race for the vast resources of the Arctic is serving as an obstacle to achieve a broad consensus to tackle down the unusually devastating impact of the global warming phenomenon on that fragile, distant but globally essential ecosystem. Due to the complexity of the Arctic scenario, the preference for intergovernmental fora and the ambiguous interests and roles of its players, the inadequate trinomial between an ecological global tragedy, an economic individual business and a collective security race will tend to subsist and to increase its tragic effects over the environment.