If Antarctic became hospitable to humans, and consequently received a mass migration, what are likely ways the Antarctic legal system could evolve?

post by Mati_Roy (MathieuRoy) · 2019-12-22T04:31:52.495Z · LW · GW · 1 comment

This is a question post.

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    13 quanticle
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ETA: if you think Antarctic would be more likely to host colonies of various countries with their respective legal apparatus, I'd be curious to know why

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answer by quanticle · 2019-12-22T05:53:40.740Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Why wouldn't Antarctica (or portions of Antarctica) just become colonies of other countries, and inherit the legal systems of their parent nations?

↑ comment by Mati_Roy (MathieuRoy) · 2019-12-22T06:03:36.815Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

ah, right, the premise of my question might be wrong! do you think colonies is a more likely outcome? why? (will update the question's description)

answer by jmh · 2019-12-22T15:51:51.521Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Not sure if you have already seen these, and I have not read carefully so am not entirely sure where the current views fully stand, which would clearly have implications should the area become habitable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_claims_in_Antarctica

https://coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/science/government_antarctica.php

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Treaty_System

However, these do seem to suggest that there would be an existing governance in place -- either with the continent divided and most of it subject to the legal jurisdiction of the territorial claimant or the group of countries signing the Antarctic Treaty (apparently 54).

A quick guess would be that the larger treaty related to environment protections and no military would govern a lot of what any future migrants could do there while immigration into specific territories likely government but the country having claimed territorial sovereignty.

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comment by Mati_Roy (MathieuRoy) · 2019-12-22T04:35:04.789Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Epistemic status: arm chair thinking

I wonder if an Antarctic mass migration would lead to the UN working closer together to develop international laws, which would consequently increase international cooperation.