Amongst the palm trees: ruminations on the 1959 Antarctic Treaty
Surrounded by potted palm trees, the 12 delegations including the Soviet Union invited to participate by the United States government decided, over the course of six intense weeks, the legal, political and scientific future of the Antarctic continent and surrounding seas. Thanks in part to the neatl...
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0032247409990167 2024-03-03T08:38:31+00:00 Amongst the palm trees: ruminations on the 1959 Antarctic Treaty Dodds, K. J. 2009 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247409990167 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247409990167 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Polar Record volume 46, issue 1, page 1-2 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development journal-article 2009 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247409990167 2024-02-08T08:49:40Z Surrounded by potted palm trees, the 12 delegations including the Soviet Union invited to participate by the United States government decided, over the course of six intense weeks, the legal, political and scientific future of the Antarctic continent and surrounding seas. Thanks in part to the neatly typed entries of Brian Roberts, the Foreign Office's polar advisor for many years; we have at least one source that vividly conveys (from the perspective of a British delegate of course) the febrile atmosphere surrounding the conference (see King and Savours 1995; Dodds 2008). Notwithstanding the achievements of the recently completed 1957–1958 International Geophysical Year and its extension the International Geophysical Co-operation (1959), there was no reason to presume that an Antarctic Treaty would be recognised as legitimate and sufficiently robust to accommodate all the parties concerned. Indeed, it is not uncommon to read in the reports prepared by the delegates for their domestic political leaders, a whole series of counter-factual possibilities if the negotiations failed to secure a modus vivendi for the polar region. We may not assume, therefore, that it was in any way inevitable that a treaty (lasting now for over fifty years) would have emerged when the delegates sat down to discuss the future of Antarctica in October 1959. The treaty was nearly not ratified in Argentina for example because of the anger felt by some political leaders about Article IV and what they considered the ‘giving away’ of Argentine sovereign rights. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Polar Record Cambridge University Press Antarctic The Antarctic Argentina Argentine Polar Record 46 1 1 2 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
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English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development |
spellingShingle |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development Dodds, K. J. Amongst the palm trees: ruminations on the 1959 Antarctic Treaty |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development |
description |
Surrounded by potted palm trees, the 12 delegations including the Soviet Union invited to participate by the United States government decided, over the course of six intense weeks, the legal, political and scientific future of the Antarctic continent and surrounding seas. Thanks in part to the neatly typed entries of Brian Roberts, the Foreign Office's polar advisor for many years; we have at least one source that vividly conveys (from the perspective of a British delegate of course) the febrile atmosphere surrounding the conference (see King and Savours 1995; Dodds 2008). Notwithstanding the achievements of the recently completed 1957–1958 International Geophysical Year and its extension the International Geophysical Co-operation (1959), there was no reason to presume that an Antarctic Treaty would be recognised as legitimate and sufficiently robust to accommodate all the parties concerned. Indeed, it is not uncommon to read in the reports prepared by the delegates for their domestic political leaders, a whole series of counter-factual possibilities if the negotiations failed to secure a modus vivendi for the polar region. We may not assume, therefore, that it was in any way inevitable that a treaty (lasting now for over fifty years) would have emerged when the delegates sat down to discuss the future of Antarctica in October 1959. The treaty was nearly not ratified in Argentina for example because of the anger felt by some political leaders about Article IV and what they considered the ‘giving away’ of Argentine sovereign rights. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dodds, K. J. |
author_facet |
Dodds, K. J. |
author_sort |
Dodds, K. J. |
title |
Amongst the palm trees: ruminations on the 1959 Antarctic Treaty |
title_short |
Amongst the palm trees: ruminations on the 1959 Antarctic Treaty |
title_full |
Amongst the palm trees: ruminations on the 1959 Antarctic Treaty |
title_fullStr |
Amongst the palm trees: ruminations on the 1959 Antarctic Treaty |
title_full_unstemmed |
Amongst the palm trees: ruminations on the 1959 Antarctic Treaty |
title_sort |
amongst the palm trees: ruminations on the 1959 antarctic treaty |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247409990167 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247409990167 |
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Antarctic The Antarctic Argentina Argentine |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Argentina Argentine |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Polar Record |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Polar Record |
op_source |
Polar Record volume 46, issue 1, page 1-2 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247409990167 |
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Polar Record |
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46 |
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1 |
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