The Falkland Islands as a ‘Strategic Gateway’: Britain and the South Atlantic Overseas Territories

The UK-Argentinian dispute regarding the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands has been central to public debate in this the 30th year since the Falklands War. Less well known, however, are the strategic challenges facing the UK in managing its Overseas Territories in the region, to which the Falklands are a ‘strategic gateway’. Klaus Dodds surveys the rationales underpinning current UK policy regarding the South Atlantic and Antarctic Overseas Territories – sovereignty, security and stewardship – and addresses the implications for regional geopolitics of the recent saga involving the proposed merger of the British Antarctic Survey and National Oceanography Centre.