Conclusions: Shifting Authority in the Age of the Resource Boom

Abstract

This book shows how political economy approaches can shed light upon the nature of resource politics in the Global South in the context of the current resource boom. Structures of power in the governance of resources in some cases have been fundamentally transformed over the years of neoliberal reforms. Yet, contrary to the convergence hypothesis, the adoption of neoliberal ideology at a global scale did not produce the sweeping policy reforms that simply placed authority in the strategic resources sector into the hands of multinational corporations; its consequences in the global resource economy have been more complex and varied. At the root of the complexity in this transformation and at the heart of a new system of power is the changing economic geography of resources with the emergence of new supplier states and new consuming states, together altering the patterns of resource trade and investment. More importantly, resource-rich states have responded to neoliberalism in quite different ways depending on their positions in the international system, structural constraints and existing political opportunities faced by their national elites as they adjust to the international economy.