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Three Worlds of Natural Resources and Power

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Power in the 21st Century

Part of the book series: Global Power Shift ((GLOBAL))

Abstract

The supply of natural resources can be a decisive element of 21st century international relations. A world with dwindling resources and environmental degradation poses serious challenges to the global economy and politics. Supply hardly can keep up with the demand of an increasing and prospering population. After several years of wallflower existence, energy security today again appears in the notepads of leading politicians, not least because the rising demand of emerging powers. The social turmoil in Haiti in 2008 and recent unrests in Maghreb countries demonstrate the relentless consequences of rising food prices for political stability. Conflicts over water in Middle East or South East Asia, though not insoluble, are a prevalent phenomenon of our time (Delli Priscoli and Wolf 2009; Grover 2007). Industrialized countries started to worry about the dependence on raw materials, previously virtually an exclusively economic issue (European Commission 2011; U.S. Department of Energy 2010).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Different from Barnett and Duvall, I consider structural and productive power together as constitutive of social relations.

  2. 2.

    Many resource-rich countries, however, fail to translate natural richness into economic richness and national strength. According to the “Resource Curse” and the “Dutch Disease” resource-rich countries are prone to social conflicts and build a weak industry (Auty 1993; Corden 1984).

  3. 3.

    In the literature, there are some thought experiments about possible futures of energy and politics. An interesting study by Friedrichs (2010) shows that there is no unilinear relation between “oil peak” and a particular policy outcome. However, he understands oil scarcity solely in material terms and does not refer to the shared ideas of the actors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Global Politics, Free University, Berlin, Germany

    Jost Wübbeke M.A. (Ph.D. Candidate)

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  1. Jost Wübbeke M.A.
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Correspondence to Jost Wübbeke M.A. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Global Studies, Institute for Political Science, Bonn University, Walter-Flex Str. 3, Bonn, 53113, Germany

    Enrico Fels

  2. Center for Global Studies, Institute for Political Science, Bonn University, Walter-Flex Str. 3, Bonn, 53113, Germany

    Jan-Frederik Kremer

  3. Center for Global Studies, Institute for Political Science, Bonn University, Walter-Flex Str. 3, Bonn, 53113, Germany

    Katharina Kronenberg

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Wübbeke, J. (2012). Three Worlds of Natural Resources and Power. In: Fels, E., Kremer, JF., Kronenberg, K. (eds) Power in the 21st Century. Global Power Shift. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25082-8_6

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