1st Edition

The Antarctic Treaty System Politics, Law, And Diplomacy

By Jeffrey D Myhre Copyright 1987
    162 Pages
    by Routledge

    162 Pages
    by Routledge

    Because negotiations for the Antarctic Treaty were kept secret, the issues that shaped the treaty system have been poorly understood. Dr. Myhre breaks new ground by examining the records of the first Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings and evaluating the events of the Special Consultative Meetings on Antarctic Mineral Resources. Introducing the reader to Antarctic politics, Dr. Myhre examines legal and political problems arising from some nations' claims to sovereignty in Antarctica, reviews initial efforts to create an international administration for the region, and studies in detail the terms of the treaty and the rules of procedure for the consultative meetings. Turning to the diplomatic events that molded the treaty system, he concentrates on the issues that emerged in the 1960s: conservation, the role of Meetings of Experts, the position of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research within the treaty system, the obligations of acceding states to uphold previous agreements, and the Consultative Powers' failure to establish an Antarctic Secretariat. Finally, he reviews the two main challenges to the system's survival—mineral extraction and Third World opposition to the present structure.

    An Overview -- Territorial Sovereignty in Antarctica1 -- Origins of the Antarctic Treaty, 1948-1959 -- The Antartic Treaty and Consultative Meetings under Article IX -- Conservation -- The Role of Meetings of Experts -- Role of Scar -- Duties of Acceding States -- Administrative Arrangements -- An Antarctic Minerals Regime? -- The Future of the Antarctic Treaty System -- The Antarctic Treaty -- The Beeby Draft Agreement on an Antarctic Mineral Resource Regime

    Biography

    Jeffrey D. Myhre is a free-lance writer and a former editor of Millennium: Journal of International Studies.