Coast Guard First Class Cadets Sarah Chen, Amanda Klawinski and Lindsay Wheeler pose for a photo.
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Lauren Laughlin
The Arctic ARP is studying the ways in which various Arctic states observe, perceive, and interpret Russian actions in the Arctic, and how these interpretations may lead to different preferred pathways in foreign policymaking. The team selected three Arctic states as subjects: Finland, Iceland, and Norway. The cadets studied three types of artifacts: official government strategies and statements of policy; interviews with diplomats at their embassies in DC; and general-audience media. The final category was chosen to reflect public opinion, in contrast to the elite opinions reflected in official and diplomatic sources. The team assessed public opinion through analyzing online news articles, Google search data from Google Trends, and Twitter feeds. They also observed and participated in a live exercise by the Arctic Coast Guard Forum off the coast of Reykjavik, Iceland. The team found similarities in language across government strategies relating to the Arctic, but found that indicators of public opinion varied significantly across the countries they studied.