Many researchers who study Arctic social-ecological systems the interplay between human societies and nature do not gain a comprehensive understanding of factors affecting these networks because they do not include the role of politics in their analyses, Dickey Center visiting fellow Amy Lovecraft said in a Tuesday lecture, "Politics in Social-Ecological Systems: The Case of the Arctic Transition."
Lovecraft explained that many academics focus on the study of governance, but said she thinks the focus should be widened to include governments and political actors, which are the driving forces of change.
"Social-ecological system studies is focused largely on the concept of policy and has recently used the term governance, but has largely ignored politics," she said.
Social-ecological systems are dynamic, complex and oftentimes unpredictable, Lovecraft added.
"We tend to think of social and ecological systems as separate, but I would like to at least point out that I think this is more of a spectrum," she said. "When we talk about animals that have highly complex, organized structures like wolf packs and apes, are we really dealing with an ecosystem, or do we have some kind of social system going on there?"
Lovecraft emphasized that politics fundamentally affects the Earth's landscapes and seascapes.
"If we leave out politics as a variable, we are going to miss a suite of dynamic forces that can help explain to us why there are changes in our ecosystem."
Using the examples of U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt's urge for conservation, the ongoing controversy over the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and the international reaction to widespread polar bear hunting, Lovecraft said that the politics that proceeded these policies had a major impact on the resulting ecological changes.
"It was politics, not policy, that drove fundamental changes on our landscapes and seascapes," she said.
Lovecraft explained that the Arctic North is in transition because of changing environmental and social climates. She cited the abundance of oil and other natural resources as a reason that people are increasingly choosing to live further north.
"We're in transition, and it's not just climate change, it's also social," she said. "Politics is going to play a key role in terms of what outcome we get in that transition."
Politics should be considered a key determinant when predicting the results of upcoming controversial issues in the Arctic North, such as the ownership of natural resources, research access and international agreements, Lovecraft said. She called for an expansion of research to include politics seen as a variable prior to policy.
"If we think about politics, we can predict some outcomes, and that can help us plan," she said.
Examining rules implemented by governing bodies does not capture the full extent of decision makers' effect on the world, Lovecraft said.
"What happens prior to these institutional responses?" Lovecraft asked. "They don't come from nowhere they come from politics."
