02 | Unsteady State | Who owns Antarctica?

What can Antarctica teach us about statehood and sovereignty?

The continent has no government, no citizens, no permanent human population. Its native inhabitants are mostly seals and penguins who, as far as we know, take little interest in politics.

But according to this week's guest, Antarctica offers a remarkable political experiment, one that challenges some of our most basic assumptions about territory and political community.

Since the Antarctic Treaty came into force in 1961, the usual question of who owns the territory has been set aside. Instead, Antarctica is governed according to a model of 'joint guardianship', raising the intriguing possibility that this remote frozen continent might have something crucial to teach us about how politics could work elsewhere.

This episode is second in a five-part series.

Guest: Alejandra Mancilla, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oslo, Norway

Producer: David Rutledge

From Sovereignty to Guardianship: Governing Antarctica, Governing the World by Alejandra Mancilla (Oxford University Press 2026)

Episode 1 | Unsteady State | Politics and the good life - The Philosopher's Zone, October 4 2026