Wars of Plunder: Conflicts, Profits and the Politics of Resources

From Angola to Iraq, wars have taken place in resource rich countries full of poor people. 'Wars of Plunder' explores the interplay of natural resources and armed conflicts, and what the international community has tried to do about it. Focusing on key resources - oil, diamonds, and timber - the book argues that resources and wars are linked in three main ways: resource revenues finance belligerents; resource exploitation frequently generates tensions; resource dependence presents major governance challenges. Focusing on key resources — oil, diamonds, and timber — he argues that resources and wars are linked in three main ways. First, resource revenues finance belligerents, a trend that has become all the more conspicuous since the withdrawal of Cold War foreign sponsorship in the late 1980s. Second, resource exploitation generates conflict. As global demand for raw materials has sharply increased, competition over critical resources such as oil has resulted in a flurry of ‘resource conflicts’, from local community struggles against mining multinationals to regional and international tensions. Third, economic shocks and poor governance sharply increase the risk of war (the ‘resource curse’). While today’s resource boom is a major economic opportunity for resource rich but otherwise poor countries, reliance on resource exports often leads to sharp and unexpected economic downturns. Not all resources are the same, however, and effective responses are at hand. Sanctions, military interventions and wealth sharing have helped bring an end to conflicts, yet only deeper domestic and international reforms in resource governance can stop the plunder of Africa and Asia.