7 - The distribution of powers within the regime: models and alternatives for accommodation

Summary

Basic interests and participation in the exercise of powers

Once there is no consensus as to who has jurisdiction over the mineral resources of Antarctica, the problem arises that it is not enough to identify the powers to be exercised in the context of the regime, it is also necessary to determine by whom they are to be exercised, and how. It is on this point that all the interests of basic importance involved in the issue must be satisfied, and these therefore are the key questions which the internal accommodation has to settle.

Writers are in agreement upon the main interest groups that must be taken into account in order to effect this accommodation, together with the inescapable realities linked to each interest and the corresponding legal positions, with particular reference to the problem of jurisdiction. A study by Keith Brennan calls attention to four basic interest groups in this regard. The first of these relates to those claiming sovereignty. In this connection Brennan observes: ‘That sovereignty is real. It remains real notwithstanding the fact that other states do not acknowledge that it is validly exercised; and it would be quite unrealistic to entertain the belief that sovereignty will be abandoned either in form or in substance’.