The Tension Between Regional and Universal Regimes for Antarctic Governance

A current trend in academia and civil society is to question the relevance of the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS). While this regional regime was developed to address specific regional problems and geopolitical tensions, new proposals advocate for a universal regime for Antarctic governance; for example, the adoption of the “Antarctica Rights Declaration” promoting Antarctica’s independent legal personality and the participation of all human beings in the governance of the region. While similar proposals, such as the United Nations “Question of Antarctica” (1983–2004), have not been successful, they have also created significant geopolitical challenges and prompted important institutional and legal developments in the ATS. In light of this new external challenge to the ATS, this chapter assesses historical tensions in Antarctic governance between regionalism and universalism to draw lessons for contemporary Antarctic geopolitics. It critically analyses how the Antarctic community has managed the geopolitical tensions that arose from previous attempts to end the regional regime in favour of the creation of a universal regime for Antarctic governance, especially the UN “Question of Antarctica”, and concludes with seven lessons to inform discussion of current proposals aimed at questioning the relevance of the ATS.