Reluctant Conquest: American Wealth, Power, and Science in the Arctic

A comprehensive history of U.S. involvement in the Arctic, from the American Revolution through the acquisition of Alaska to the present day

What drives American foreign relations in the Arctic? It is difficult to give a unified answer to this question because most histories of the region are divided between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, Asian and European strategic interests, or federal government and Indigenous peoples’ concerns, making it difficult to understand the connections among the environmental challenges, scientific understandings, strategic calculations, and governance relationships. Most Americans do not think of their country as an Arctic power, yet it is a region where the United States has had important ties throughout its history.

In this sweeping study, from the founding of the country through the acquisition of Alaska to the present, Kathryn C. Lavelle considers American relations across the circumpolar North, incorporating discussions of economics, national security, and science that are conventionally separated. Lavelle argues that it is impossible to understand U.S. policy without a knowledge of American political development and of how scientific understandings have grown alongside studies of climate and other environmental issues. This history has important implications for future American policy regarding traditional national security and political economy, in addition to climate change and environmental cooperation.

Kathryn C. Lavelle is the Ellen and Dixon Long Professor of Political Science at Case Western Reserve University and the author of The Challenges of Multilateralism. She has been a Congressional Fellow and a residential fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.