ABSTRACT
The continent of Antarctica belongs to no nation, although a number of states have made claims on sections of it. This unusual state of affairs was created by the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, which came into full force in 1961 and is often referred to as the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS). Minerals were to be covered by the Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities (CRAMRA), but this convention has never come into force. The chapter explores four questions about the political management of the Antarctic. First, why did the Antarctic Treaty come into being in the first place? Second, why was the minerals convention (CRAMRA) negotiated? Third, why did CRAMRA fail to go into effect? And fourth, what predictions can people make about the likely future of the ATS? The chapter presents an overview of the responses elicited by each of the questions.
