Description
This chapter examines how the weakened performance of the Antarctic Treaty System in the field of environmental protection has encouraged many amongst scholars and policymakers to advocate radical reforms. Most of the reforms proposed aim to include more countries within the ATS and to change decision-making procedures from consensus to majority rule, in an alleged attempt to “democratize” the governance of the Southern Continent. This chapter reflects on how these reform projects emerge from normative standpoints, according to which democracy and inclusivity are considered intrinsically valid principles, which would automatically improve the ATS if implemented. It is afterwards claimed that these normative approaches ignore some fundamental characteristics of the Antarctic regime and are therefore unfit to envision effective solutions to the current challenges faced by the ATS.
