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Процессы трансформации международного Арктического региона: новые геополитические контуры
The article attempts to analyze the international Arctic region at the period from the end of the Cold War to the present. In this period, the author identifies two main stages, which differ in different logic of building relations between regional states. Special attention is paid to the transformation of theoretical approaches to the concept of "region", characterized by a shift in emphasis from the territorial principle that defines a region as a specific territory to the spatial one, which is based on functional features. This makes it possible to explain the processes that took place in the Arctic after the end of the Cold War, when global region with a variety of participants in regional integration became forming. The article also highlights the uniqueness of the Arctic, which is in the impact of rapid climate change on the geopolitical position of the region. The article analyzes the reasons for the change in the development of international processes in the Arctic from the idea of a global region filled with intensive international cooperation to confrontation. The author tends to interpret the main reason through the prism of a systematic approach: as a result of the rearrangement of elements in the system, which occurred due to the formation of new poles of power in the contemporary international relations, contradictions arise with the world hegemon, which leads to a redistribution of the balance of power. A feature of the international relations in the Arctic can also be called the configuration of regional players, when seven countries create a counterweight to the eighth Arctic power. This is clearly demonstrated through NATO's activities in the region and the blocking of Russia's participation in all formats of regional cooperation. The avoidance of the Arctic countries from cooperating with Russia in the previous way can also be explained by the growth of their state selfishness.