Wei Wei Tasch 

Philosophy, Politics and Economics Fellow 

University of Pennsylvania 

 

Title: Norm Building in Exceptional Environments

Abstract: This work explores the opportunities, risks, and tensions associated with facilitating a healthy Arctic, as global climate change alters its environment and consequent political-economic processes respond. Facilitating the Arctic’s healthy future, however, is not limited to understanding the competitive and cooperative interactions among the five coastal nations located within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic’s natural resources, for example, could be conceptualized as public goods by nations located beyond the Arctic Circle, including China, India, Japan, Italy, and South Korea. Strategies involving prosocial signaling by contribution (counting on others’ information seeking behavior), and inducing reciprocity (exchanging aid for access to resources) can all be used to “normalize” the Arctic’s future in favor of a particular stakeholder. My ongoing research, in laboratory experiments and field work, can help provide further insights on opportunities to facilitate international cooperation and stable multilateral relations.