What's Beneath the Tip of the Iceberg, and What Happens When it Flips? Using Australia and China as case studies, to what extent has the environmental protection of Antarctica, from the 20th to the 21st century, been influenced by the securitisation of national interests and the institutional weaknesses within the Antarctic Treaty System?

Abstract

Antarctica has long held the vivid imaginations of humankind since its discovery, however in the 19th century and today it has become a symbol of climate anxiety and a reflection of the environmental vulnerability of our earth.

It stands as a vital and multifaceted domain for research, offering unique insights and contributing significantly to our understanding of complex global challenges across various disciplines including international relations, law, astronomy, biology, and climate change studies. However, its environmental future is bound by the ebb and flow of diplomacy, geopolitics and most significantly national interests of the member states and institutions which fall under its governance systems. The complexity and complications of these frameworks present additional challenges for the continent, as they seek to balance conservation, diplomacy and the appeasement of diverging interests.

The thesis explores these themes along with key historical turning points of Australia and China’s interaction with Antarctic diplomacy, before and after the establishment of the Antarctic Treaty System in 1959. The research will use the Securitisation Theory to reveal several manoeuvres employed by Australia and China from the 19th century to today, to thwart perceived existential threats to their interests; both economic, military and political and the impact of such pursuits on the environmental past and future of the continent. It will become evident that many nations are not devoted to peace and science in Antarctica as the mandate of the Antarctic Treaty insists. Science instead has developed from a token of human curiosity to a token for achieving national security, among its many realms.

The overall analysis that emerges from Western Literature is lacking in historical perspective, riddled with alarmism and encompasses mostly what is a broad glance at the landscape of Antarctic Geopolitics and environmental governance measures. In the face of rapidly advancing global climate change, intellectual capital becomes paramount in comprehending decision-making processes and steering a positive trajectory of Antarctica's future.