The Political Economy of Global Resources

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to engage with the issue of conflict and collaboration in relation to global resources from a political economy perspective. It should be noted from the outset that the political economy of resources, an enquiry which primarily looks at the link between a country’s development and its minerals and fossil fuels does not constitute a coherent or unified intellectual paradigm. Rather, it is a collection of different debates that have taken place since the middle of the twentieth century in connection to the extractive industries and their socio-political impact. The chapter will argue that each of these debates took place in a specific intellectual context, dealt with different geographical regions of the world and was associated with a diverse range of minerals and fossil fuels. Accordingly, all of those elements have to be properly highlighted if we are to understand why in different historical periods or regimes resources have been associated with either conflict or cooperation.