Introduction

In this chapter the author presents a brief historical perspective on the global environment to highlight the importance of the Polar regions. The authors highlight that in recent years, the Arctic region has experienced an increased interest from Arctic countries and those outside of the Arctic region. Due to melting sea ice caused by the rise of global temperatures, the region has become far more accessible than only a few decades ago. In the melting Arctic, new shipping lanes and access to natural resources, such as oil and gas, have created a domain for geopolitical thinkers, journalists and commentators to project more significant political issues onto the region, with some labelling the region as a stage for great power politics, or predictions of the Arctic emerging as a scene for a new “Cold War”, and even having the potential of becoming the new Middle East of geopolitics. As the Arctic ice melts, the scramble for resources unravels, setting the scene for possible conflicts between great powers like Russia and the United States. The situation is, of course, multifaceted and viewed differently from diverse regions. The view in the mainstream media and from outside the Arctic region tends to have a more conflict-driven, high-tension perspective on the Arctic, whereas the view from within the Arctic region, at least before the conflict in Ukraine, emphasised cooperation and peaceful coexistence. India’s Arctic engagement is a natural extension of its research activities in Antarctica and its accession to the Treaty of Spitsbergen. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study are the theories of neoliberal institutionalism and constructivism, which determine India’s desire to cooperate with Arctic countries for mutual benefit and understanding and functioning of Arctic political narratives respectively. The constructivist paradigm assists in the analysis of political actors and formation of the Polar discourse and its impact on diplomacy. However, neoliberalism and global governance are also used to explain the political processes in favour of international cooperation and India’s desire for global governance. The author used the system’s approach to identify the driving forces of the development of India’s polar policies. This assisted in identifying the interrelationship and influence of economic, scientific, strategic, bilateral and multilateral ties on the evolution of the Indian discourse and engagement in the Polar regions.