Three Worlds of Natural Resources and Power

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).