Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
This proposed management strategy failed. It assumed that the Soviet Union was preoc-
cupied with its vast Arctic region. The return of whaling fleets coupled with the promo-
tion work of Soviet geographers scuppered the plan. Sensing growing Soviet interest, the
American and British media foretold of a new 'scramble for Antarctica'. By 1950, Soviet
officials asserted their historic and geographical interest in the Antarctic, and publicly re-
futed the validity of any territorial claims to the Antarctic. As with the United States, the
USSR adopted a non-recognition policy while reserving the right to press a claim in the
future. The subsequent investment in scientific initiatives fitted a broader pattern of both
countries being avowedly anti-imperial, while at the same time supporting proposals that
ensured that their influence (and mobility in the case of the Antarctic) was at best enhanced
and, at very worst, untouched.
Indirectly, perhaps, a proposal put forward in 1950 by a group of geophysicists for a new
international polar year (the International Geophysical Year, IGY) was a timely interven-
tion. Polar science offered a powerful platform for geopolitical advantage, and just as the
British utilized it in the 1920s and 1930s, claims could be made to be advancing 'environ-
mental authority' and material interests simultaneously. Big science provided opportunities
for both colonization/sovereignty games, and paradoxically perhaps, shared ownership.
Negotiating phase
Following on from earlier international polar years in 1882-3 and scientific understanding
An international committee, the Special Committee for the IGY, was created, and some 67
countries committed themselves to global scientific investigation. In the period between
July 1957 and December 1958, particular attention was to be given to the polar regions and
outer space. With Cold War tensions evident in the Arctic region, the Antarctic enjoyed
prominence, in contrast to earlier international polar years. The preparatory meetings lead-
ing up to the IGY established the 'ground rules'. In 1955, it was agreed that Antarctic re-
search had to be carried out on the basis that sovereignty considerations were separated
from scientific investigation. Twelve nations, including the seven claimants, participated,
and some 5,000 personnel at 55 research stations carried out a range of investigations, in-
cluding the mapping of the Antarctic, ice-cap thickness studies, marine biology, and upper
atmospheric research.
Claimant states had to accept that the Americans and Soviets were going to establish their
bases across the region, including an American one at the South Pole and a Soviet research
station at the Pole of Relative Inaccessibility. Both superpowers were making a power-
ful political and symbolic point - claimants had no special rights in the context of inter-
