The high quality of this academic work reflects along the book. It sheds light on a subject- the Arctic Circle- that gets little coverage by academics, the media, and politicians. The importance of this work goes beyond the academic world: it should get the attention of decision makers and politicians who attempt to evaluate the geopolitical developments in the Arctic Ocean and plan their policies and strategies accordingly. More than this: the comparative theoretical and empirical analyses that the author does between realties in the Arctic Circle and the situation in the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean greatly increase the relevance and importance of this work. 1 have no doubt that it could serve the academic world as well as strategists and policy planners in the years to come. The global warming; the so called “new frontier” and routes that suddenly become available; the potential exploration of energy sources; etc.- all promise growing competition, even a sort of cold war among the various interested parties, Russia in particular. In this chapter the author describes very clearly the relevance of Spykman’s theory to realties in the Arctic Circle. Simultaneously, the author discusses the various deficiencies that Spykman’s theory suffers from in face of various regional and global events. The author gives a detailed outline of the methodology that she uses. Along the thesis one is impressed by the qualitative and quantitative research methods that the author applies. I consider this to be a very strong side of the research. In-fact, the book could serve as a model for combining various research methodologies while pursuing a geopolitical probe. The author successfully “descends’’ from theories, insights, ideologies and ideas to earthly realities and practices. The geostrategic synthesis is based on the available knowledge about the Arctic Circle, geostrategic issues, and future political, strategic, economic and climatic developments. To this interdisciplinary synthesis the author adds her important conclusions and findings, and shows their relevance to realties in the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean. The detailed and comprehensive bibliography and sources at the end of the book greatly helps the reader to come to the conclusion that this is an excellent work that unequivocally merits the level and quality of a very high quality book.

Dr. Amikam Nachmani

Professor of Modern History, Politics, Culture and Society
at the East Mediterranean
Dept. of Political Studies Bar Ilan University, Israel