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This book deals with the transformation of the Arctic from an isolated or a distant region to a member of the global community, vulnerable to global changes, and an area frequently in the very center of the world´s attention. Increased global interest is a potential source of tensions between the need for exploration or exploitation, and the requirements of protection. This context calls for new data, knowledge and information vital for a better understanding of interactions between different systems, as well as developing awareness about the current and potential changes in the future. The objective of the book is to help develop a strategy of adaptation to climate change based on the knowledge and experience of the extremely effective mechanisms which for centuries made survival possible in this region.

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Introduction.- The High North.- he High North as a part of the global climate system: contemporary challenges.- Peoples of the High North.- The High North: the economic dimension.- The political dimension: North European Countries and the High North.- The High North as the area of international cooperation.- The High North: a source of conflicts or opportunities.- Conclusion.

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"This examination of the European High North and the Arctic region addresses emerging challenges and opportunities in the face of a rapidly changing climate, an increase in extractive industries, international geopolitics, and regional security interests. ... Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals/practitioners." (R. A. Delgado Jr., Choice, Vol. 53 (7), March, 2016)

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Professor Ryszard Michal CZARNY [tscharni], expert in Scandinavian issues, lawyer, political scientist, researching political and economic conditions of the cooperation among the North European States. Full Professor of Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce (Poland) and since 2012 Professor of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava (Slovakia). Author of many publications, including major works on the Nordic countries: The High North: Between Geography and Politics - Springer 2015, Regionalism in International Relations, Die Neutralitätspolitik als Sicherheitsproblem des Königreiches Schweden, Sweden in the European Union: Political and Legal Analysis, Sweden - Poland - The European Union, In the New Europe: Glossary of Terms, Energy Dilemmas of the Nordic Region Countries, EU Northern Dimension: Development Study, The Imperative High North: Opportunities and Challenges, The Northern Spaces: Contemporary Issues - ed., The Arctic and Nordic Countries in the World of Economy and Politics - ed., and numerous books, articles and essays in Polish on contemporary international relations.

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