New Territories and New Problems in Norwegian Foreign and Security Policy
| Author | Finn Sollie |
| DOI | 10.1177/001083677400900117 |
| Published date | 01 March 1974 |
| Date | 01 March 1974 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
New
Territories
and
New
Problems
in
Norwegian
Foreign
and
Security
Policy
FINN
SOLLIE
In
proportion
to
the
country’s
size,
population
and
economy,
Norway
has
a
greater
stake
in
the
exploration
and
exploitation
of
new
territories
than
almost
any
other
nation.
The
natural
resources
on
the
continental
shelf
may
be
so
large
that
they
will
dominate
Norway’s
economy
in
the
future.
Opposite
pressures
of
international
demand
for
rapid
development
of
Norwegian
oil
resources
and
the
national
desire
to
limit
growth
and
prevent
its
upsetting
effects
upon
the
economy,
illustrate
some
of
the
new
problems
the
country
now
faces
in
its
foreign
relations.
Continental
shelf
wealth
-
together
with
the
fact
that
shelf
activities
may
be
carried
out
in
the
strategically
important
Barents
Sea
area -
also
raises
some
specific
security
issues.
1.
BACKGROUND
The
systematic
exploration
of
the
con-
tinental
shelf
off
a
number
of
countries -
Norway
among
them -
and
the
exploita-
tion
of
natural
resources
such
as
oil
and
gas
on
the
seabed
can
be
said
to
mark
the
transition
to
a
new
phase
of
historical
de-
velopment.
One
of
the
indications that
we
are
in
transition
between
two
epochs
is
the
fact
that
the
consumption
of
some
materials
which
are
central
to
the
eco-
nomy -
primarily
oil -
has
attained
a
level
where
production
seems
unable
to
meet
demand.
Scarcity
of
one
or
more
important
raw
materials
does
not
in
itself
create
a
new
situation -
over-consumption
and
under-production
of
essential
products
have
occurred
in
all
ages.
The
new
feature
of
the situation
today
is
the
fact
that
the
very
resource
base
itself
is
on
the
point
of
being
exhausted,
so
that
production
can
no
longer
be
expanded
in
those
parts
of
the
world
which
Man,
until
now,
has
been
able
to
explore
and
exploit
to
his
own
ends.
The
fact
which
marks
the
beginning
of
a
new
epoch
is
that
the
industrial
civili-
zation
has,
at
the
same
time,
reached
a
level
where
the
necessary
technology
is
already
available
or
can
be
developed
for
locating
and
exploiting
natural
resources
in
those
remaining
parts
of
the
world
in
which
Man
has
earlier
not
been
able
to
carry
on
his
activities.
Activities
such
as
those
today
being
conducted
on
the
shallow
parts
of
the
continental
shelf,
will,
in
the
very
near
future,
extend
to
the
deeper
parts
of
the
shelf
and
beyond
to
the
ocean
floor
itself.
In
the
long
run,
exploitation
of
the
natural
resources
under
the
Antarctic
ice
will
also
be
possible.
It
is
a
matter
here
of
enorm-
ous
areas
and
enormous
resources
which
it
has
been
impossible
to
make
use
of
until
now.
Including
the
whole
seabed
and
the
Antarctic
continent,
some
70
percent
of
the
Earth’s
total
area
today
forms
’new
territories’,
in
the
sense
that
these
are
areas
it
has
not
so
far
been
possible
to
bring
in
under
Man’s
domain,
and
which
can
now
be
explored
and
exploited
and
so
incor-
porated
into
the
international
economic,
legal
and
political
system.
It
is
already
clear
that
it
will
be
pos-
sible
in
principle
to
develop
the
technology
required
to
explore
and
exploit
natural
resources
in
virtually
all
of
these
new
ter-
ritories.
It
is,
therefore,
pure
criteria
of
demand,
cost,
and
effectiveness
which
will
in
reality
determine
whether
and
at
what
time
the
different
areas
will
be
exploited.
If
there
is
sufficient
demand
for
the
ex-
ploitation
of
natural
resources
on
the
sea-
bed
or
in
Antarctica,
the
technical
prob-
lems
will
be
resolved,
but
development
will
proceed
in
such
a
way
that
regions
where
the
relative
costs
will
be
lowest
in
relation
to
yield
will
be
exploited
first.
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