Summary: | Antarctic Treaty system" means the Antarctic Treaty, the measures in effect under that Treaty, its associated separate international instruments in force and the measures in effect under those instruments. In the past 56 years, the Antarctic Treaty System take the responsibility to governance the Antarctic. From the very beginning, the treaty was signed to solve the historical problem instead of blueprint the future. With the development of new technology and international law system, the treaty system itself began to face the challenge not only from external but from the internal. The typical argument aroused in 1980s, which almost lead the Antarctic governance under United Nations' framework. Although the problem was settled down and lead to the development of the new instruments for regional governance, as the definition question about the Antarctic itself still exist in the international law system, the possibility of further conflicts still exist. On the other hand, further developments about the governance instruments also face the challenge about legality. The lack of conflict resolution mechanisms is also a problem needs to be focus, since this may leads to potential conflicts of jurisdiction but for the treaty system, still has no legal capability to solve. Since the Antarctic is a region without authority, the governance of this area is comprehensive, it should cover all the departments may related to, and not a single international law department could handle. Thus, in order to build a sustainable and reliable governance system, the organizational tendency may a possible direction for the Antarctic Treaty System further development.
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