Doctoral Research Fellow in Political Philosophy (EXPIRED)

Global pressure over living and non-living natural resources in Antarctica will mount in the course of the coming decades. Three pressing factors might motivate states to claim exclusive rights to Antarctica: climate change, dwindling natural resources in occupied territories, and the fact that—by virtue of Article IV of the Antarctic Treaty—the question of sovereignty in the White Continent remains unresolved. We are at a unique point in history to influence the ethical dimensions of the decisions that may govern Antarctic claims in the future. What is a fair division of natural resources? Does any nation or group of nations have a privileged territorial claim? How should environmental concerns feature into decisions about territorial rights? 

This fully funded, three-year PhD position is open for projects that investigate the normative grounds of sovereign claims and claims over natural resources in Antarctica, as well as the normative elements that should give internal and external legitimacy to the Antarctic Treaty System. It is part of a three-year project funded by the Polar Research Programme of the Research Council of Norway: “Political Philosophy Looks to Antarctica: Sovereignty, Resource Rights and Legitimacy in the Antarctic Treaty System”. The main supervisor is Alejandra Mancilla, the project leader. The PhD fellow will be working with an international team of philosophers, political scientists and legal theorists based in Norway, Canada, Chile, Australia, Ireland and the UK.