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AbstractThe Arctic Ocean has been described as undergoing a fundamental 'state change'– with particular reference to the loss of sea ice. Recent events suggest that the five coastal states (Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Norway, Russia and the United States) and other stakeholders are fundamentally reconsidering their relationship with the Arctic Ocean. The prevailing governance of the Arctic Ocean is quite different to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean. The Arctic Ocean is not a global common and there is no equivalent to the 1959 Antarctic Treaty. If the Arctic Ocean is in a state of flux then it is due to three interlocking vectors: the role of science and technology in generating knowledge about the region (accessibility); international law and rights of coastal states (resources); and the role of domestic and international audiences (sovereignty).

AbstractThis article considers the governance of the Antarctic in the light of the 50th anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty in December 2009. Created in the midst of the cold war, this treaty provided a mechanism for governing the Antarctic. Science and international collaboration were central to this new regime. Over the next five decades, the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) expanded as new legal instruments were developed and entered into force including the Protocol on Environmental Protection. New issues such as fishing and tourism along with an expanded membership have transformed the politics of Antarctica. Current controversies involving illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, the Law of the Sea and the creation of the 'coastal state', tourism and whaling will continue to provoke serious challenges for the governance of Antarctica.

Commemorating a particular anniversary is always an arbitrary affair, an act of whimsy. After all, why acknowledge the 50th anniversary of someone or some event as opposed to the 48th? In terms of birthdays, we tend to celebrate each year as another rite of human passage. However, when it comes to events such as wars and diplomatic encounters, the media and political commentators like more substantial blocks of time: 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 100th anniversaries are particularly noteworthy. The year 2009 has proven no different in terms of representing a temporal marker for the 50th anniversary of the signing of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty. In December 2009 a so-called Antarctic Treaty Summit was held in Washington, D.C. to take advantage of not only such a milestone, but also "to highlight lessons learned about international governance 'with the interests of science and the progress of all mankind' " (Antarctic Treaty Summit 2009, emphasis added).por_163 145.149

The International Polar Year (IPY) of 2007–09 was an international scientific enterprise that encompassed all polar regions, and built on the legacies bequeathed by earlier endeavours stretching back to the late 19th century. The first such venture was initiated in 1882–83, the second was in 1932–33 and the last, the International Geophysical Year (IGY), occurred in 1957–58, and involved thousands of scientists working inter alia in the polar continent. Activity in the Arctic, for geopolitical reasons, was rather more limited, and was certainly not epitomized by free and unfettered scientific investigation. Sponsored by the International Council for Science, the most recent IPY was noteworthy for its explicit bi-polar focus, and its integration of the humanities and social sciences with the physical and environmental sciences. The role of indigenous communities was also notable in Arctic-based projects, a development that would have been inconceivable during the IGY. As with the IGY, however, a spectacular event in one of the theatres of scientific interest grabbed world headlines: in 1957 it was Sputnik orbiting the Earth, and in 2007 it was a Russian submersible planting a flag on the bottom of the central Arctic Ocean basin.

"Classical Geopolitics Revisited" published on by Oxford University Press.