Abstract
The purpose of the assignment is to clarify whether the USA and Russia are causing a security dilemma in the Arctic region and analyse what interest the states have behind their behaviour, and how they see the opponent's military build-up. This assignment applies established theories regarding the security dilemma to identify the causes and how it affects the Arctic region. In order to do this, the report will be structured as follows. In the first section Glaser’s theory called motives will be used as a framework to clarify the states' interests and intents in the Arctic region and determine whether these are driven by offensive or defensive purposes. The following two sections apply Jervis theory regarding geography and technology to assess whether the states´ interests are defensive or offensive motivated. The assignment outlines that the states' main interests in the region are economical and security policy, thereby defensive motivated. The geographical shape of the Arctic fosters the defensive advantage and the same goes for the states Arctic bases. However, some of the bases contain offensive elements and the technology in the Arctic contains more offensive features than before. These variables fit into Jervis second world, thereby establishing that there is a security dilemma but empathy and good statesmanship could reduce the security dilemma. In addition, cooperation is still possible due to the peaceful interests of the states and compatible security policies but may be prevented by misunderstandings and military conflicts.