Written By: Amanda Hodne
Supervised By: Finn Seiffert, Élea Huguet
Edited By: Alexandra Huggins
ABSTRACT
Located in a remote yet strategically significant position in the Arctic, the Svalbard archipelago has emerged as a new target for hybrid threats and global power competition in the 21st century. This paper assesses how the 1920 Svalbard Treaty, which combines Norwegian sovereignty, equal access for signatories, and demilitarisation, creates legal ambiguities that hybrid actors seek to exploit. Russia uses such lawfare to test European detection and response mechanisms to hybrid threats. As Svalbard’s geostrategic importance grows, so do the implications for European security more broadly. The paper explores the structural constraints of the Svalbard Treaty, which enable lawfare, and proposes measures to strengthen deterrence and resilience within the current legal framework.
