Download or read book The Curse of Natural Resources written by Sevil Acar and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-02-20 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the paradox that resource-rich countries often struggle to manage their resources in a way that will help their economies thrive. It looks at how a country's political regime and quality of governance can determine the degree to which it benefits - or suffers - from having natural resources, shifting away from the traditional focus on economic growth data to study the complex implications of these resources for human well-being and sustainable development. To this end, Acar examines a panel of countries in terms of the effects of their natural resources on human development and genuine saving, which is a sustainability indicator that takes into account the welfare of future generations by incorporating the changes in different kinds of capital. Acar finds that the exportation of agricultural raw materials is associated with significant deterioration in human development, while extractive resource exports, such as energy and minerals, have negative implications for genuine savings. Next, the book compares the development path of Norway before and after discovering oil, contrasting it with Sweden's development. The two countries, which followed almost identical paths until the 1970s, diverged significantly in terms of per capita income after Norway found oil.

Download or read book Natural Resources and Violent Conflict written by Ian Bannon and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Research carried out by the World Bank on the root causes of conflict and civil war finds that a developing country's economic dependence on natural resources or other primary commodities is strongly associated with the risk level for violent conflict. This book brings together a collection of reports and case studies that explore what the international community in particular can do to reduce this risk.; The text explains the links between natural resources and conflict and examines the impact of resource dependence on economic performance, governance, secessionist movements and revel financing. It then explores avenues for international action - from financial and resource reporting procedures and policy recommendations to commodity tracking systems and enforcement instruments, including sanctions, certification requirements, aid conditionality, legislative and judicial instruments.

Download or read book Confronting the Curse written by Cullen S. Hendrix and published by Peterson Institute for International Economics. This book was released on 2014 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The political economy of natural resource wealth poses two interrelated challenges for American foreign policy, both involving governance issues in countries that are abundantly endowed with natural resources. The potentially negative impact of natural resources on development is captured in the phrase "the resource curse". The implications are the greatest for the commodity producers themselves, ranging from complications for macroeconomic management to political authoritarianism and, in the extreme, the precipitation of violent civil conflict. For US policy, the resource curse presents challenges with respect to coping with state failure and associated transborder phenomena. The issues extend to broader geopolitics. Resource abundance confers financial and political power on producers. China's emergence as a major importer and investor in extraction, willing to accommodate authoritarian producers, exacerbates the challenge, potentially undercutting international efforts to encourage greater transparency and improved management of natural resource wealth. This issue is of particular importance for US policy toward Africa

Download or read book Land and Resource Scarcity written by Andreas Exner and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together geological, biological, radical economic, technological, historical and social perspectives on peak oil and other scarce resources. The contributors to this volume argue that these scarcities will put an end to the capitalist system as we know it and alternatives must be created. The book combines natural science with emancipatory thinking, focusing on bottom up alternatives and social struggles to change the world by taking action. The volume introduces original contributions to the debates on peak oil, land grabbing and social alternatives, thus creating a synthesis to gain an overview of the multiple crises of our times. The book sets out to analyse how crises of energy, climate, metals, minerals and the soil relate to the global land grab which has accelerated greatly since 2008, as well as to examine the crisis of profit production and political legitimacy. Based on a theoretical understanding of the multiple crises and the effects of peak oil and other scarcities on capital accumulation, the contributors explore the social innovations that provide an alternative. Using the most up to date research on resource crises, this integrative and critical analysis brings together the issues with a radical perspective on possibilites for future change as well as a strong social economic and ethical dimesion. The book should be of interest to researchers and students of environmental policy, politics, sustainable development and natural resource management.

Download or read book Integrated Natural Resource Management in the Highlands of Eastern Africa written by Laura Anne German and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-17 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book documents a decade of research, methodological innovation, and lessons learned in an eco-regional research-for-development program operating in the eastern African highlands, the African Highlands Initiative (AHI). It does this through reflections of the protagonists themselves—AHI site teams and partners applying action research to development innovation as a means to enhance the impact of their research. The book summarizes the experiences of farmers, research and development workers and policy and decision-makers who have interacted within an innovation system with the common goal of implementing an integrated approach to natural resource management (NRM) in the humid highlands. This book demonstrates the crucial importance of "approach" in shaping the outcomes of research and development, and distils lessons learned on what works, where and why. It is enriched with examples and case studies from five benchmark sites in Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, whose variability provides the reader with an in-depth knowledge of the complexities of integrated NRM in agro-ecosystems that play an important role in the rural economy of the region. It is shown that the struggle to achieve sustainable agricultural development in challenging environments is a complex one, and can only be effectively achieved through combined efforts and commitment of individuals and institutions with complementary roles.

Download or read book Want Waste or War written by Philip Andrews-Speed and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-11-13 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In addition to environmental change, the structure and trends of global politics and the economy are also changing as more countries join the ranks of the world’s largest economies with their resource-intensive patterns. The nexus approach, conceptualized as attention to resource connections and their governance ramifications, calls attention to the sustainability of contemporary consumer resource use, lifestyles and supply chains. This book sets out an analytical framework for understanding these nexus issues and the related governance challenges and opportunities. It sheds light on the resource nexus in three realms: markets, interstate relations and local human security. These three realms are the organizing principle of three chapters, before the analysis turns to crosscutting case studies including shale gas, migration, lifestyle changes and resource efficiency, nitrogen fertilizer and food systems, water and the Nile Basin, climate change and security and defense spending. The key issues revolve around competition and conflict over finite natural resources. The authors highlight opportunities to improve both the understanding of nexus challenges and their governance. They critically discuss a global governance approach versus polycentric and multilevel approaches and the lack of those dimensions in many theories of international relations.

Download or read book Introduction to Natural Resource Planning written by Charles Yoe and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2012-10-05 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an exciting time for natural resources planning. There are amazing technologies available to planners and a wide and growing array of resources, problems, and opportunities that need attention. Private and public interests are taking up these issues all over the world and at all levels of involvement. At the same time, inefficient planning

Download or read book Best of the Books written by Oliver A. Houck and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Softbound - New, softbound print book.

Download or read book Escaping the Resource Curse written by Macartan Humphreys and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2007-05-22 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The wealth derived from natural resources can have a tremendous impact on the economics and politics of producing countries. In the last quarter century, we have seen the surprising and sobering consequences of this wealth, producing what is now known as the "resource curse." Countries with large endowments of natural resources, such as oil and gas, often do worse than their poorer neighbors. Their resource wealth frequently leads to lower growth rates, greater volatility, more corruption, and, in extreme cases, devastating civil wars. In this volume, leading economists, lawyers, and political scientists address the fundamental channels generated by this wealth and examine the major decisions a country must make when faced with an abundance of a natural resource. They identify such problems as asymmetric bargaining power, limited access to information, the failure to engage in long-term planning, weak institutional structures, and missing mechanisms of accountability. They also provide a series of solutions, including recommendations for contracting with oil companies and allocating revenue; guidelines for negotiators; models for optimal auctions; and strategies to strengthen state-society linkages and public accountability. The contributors show that solutions to the resource curse do exist; yet, institutional innovations are necessary to align the incentives of key domestic and international actors, and this requires fundamental political changes and much greater levels of transparency than currently exist. It is becoming increasingly clear that past policies have not provided the benefits they promised. Escaping the Resource Curse lays out a path for radically improving the management of the world's natural resources.

Download or read book As Their Natural Resources Fail written by Frank Tough and published by UBC Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looks at the role of Native peoples, both Indian and Metis, in the economy of northern Manitoba from 1870 to the Depression, arguing that they played an important part in the transitional era between the mercantile fur trade and the emerging industrial economy of the mid- 20th century. Reconstructs the evolution of the economy of the fur trade era, showing that natives responded to the market economy in enterprising ways but were obstructed by government policy. Includes bandw photos and diagrams. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Download or read book The Struggle for Natural Resources written by Carmen Soliz and published by University of New Mexico Press. This book was released on 2024-03-15 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Struggle for Natural Resources traces the troubled history of Bolivia's land and commodity disputes across five centuries, combining local, regional, national, and transnational scales. Enriched by the extractivism and commodity frontiers approaches to world history, the book treats Bolivia's political struggles over natural resources as long-term processes that outlast immediate political events. Exploration of the Bolivian case invites dialogue and comparison with other parts of the world, particularly regions and countries of the so-called Global South. The book begins by examining three Bolivian resources at the center of political dispute since the early colonial period, namely land, water, and minerals. Carmen Soliz, Rossana Barragán, and Sarah Hines show that, as in the colonial and early republican past, these resources have remained the focus of political contention to the present day. Until the end of the nineteenth century, Bolivia's battle over natural resources was primarily concentrated in the highlands and inter-Andean valleys. Beginning in the 1860s, the bicycle and soon the automobile industries triggered demand for natural rubber found in the heart of the Amazon. José Orsag analyzes the impact of this extractive economy at the turn of the twentieth century. The book concludes by examining two resources that are central to understanding the last century of Bolivia's history. Kevin Young examines the fraught business of hydrocarbons, and Thomas Grisaffi analyzes the coca/cocaine circuit. Each chapter studies the social dynamics and political conflicts that shaped the processes of extraction, exchange, and ownership of each of these resources

Download or read book Natural Resources Neither Curse nor Destiny written by Daniel Lederman and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2006-10-23 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Natural Resources: Neither Course nor Destiny' brings together a variety of analytical perspectives, ranging from econometric analyses of economic growth to historical studies of successful development experiences in countries with abundant natural resources. The evidence suggests that natural resources are neither a curse nor destiny. Natural resources can actually spur economic development when combined with the accumulation of knowledge for economic innovation. Furthermore, natural resource abundance need not be the only determinant of the structure of trade in developing countries. In fact, the accumulation of knowledge, infrastructure, and the quality of governance all seem to determine not only what countries produce and export, but also how firms and workers produce any good.

Download or read book The Invasion of Indian Country in the Twentieth Century written by Donald Fixico and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2011-11-15 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Invasion of Indian Country in the Twentieth Century, Second Edition is updated through the first decade of the twenty-first century and contains a new chapter challenging Americans--Indian and non-Indian--to begin healing the earth. This analysis of the struggle to protect not only natural resources but also a way of life serves as an indispensable tool for students or anyone interested in Native American history and current government policy with regard to Indian lands or the environment.

Download or read book The Race for What s Left written by Michael T. Klare and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2012-03-13 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Michael Klare, the renowned expert on natural resource issues, an invaluable account of a new and dangerous global competition The world is facing an unprecedented crisis of resource depletion—a crisis that goes beyond "peak oil" to encompass shortages of coal and uranium, copper and lithium, water and arable land. With all of the planet's easily accessible resource deposits rapidly approaching exhaustion, the desperate hunt for supplies has become a frenzy of extreme exploration, as governments and corporations rush to stake their claim in areas previously considered too dangerous and remote. The Race for What's Left takes us from the Arctic to war zones to deep ocean floors, from a Russian submarine planting the country's flag on the North Pole seabed to the large-scale buying up of African farmland by Saudi Arabia, China, and other food-importing nations. As Klare explains, this invasion of the final frontiers carries grave consequences. With resource extraction growing more complex, the environmental risks are becoming increasingly severe; the Deepwater Horizon disaster is only a preview of the dangers to come. At the same time, the intense search for dwindling supplies is igniting new border disputes, raising the likelihood of military confrontation. Inevitably, if the scouring of the globe continues on its present path, many key resources that modern industry relies upon will disappear completely. The only way out, Klare argues, is to alter our consumption patterns altogether—a crucial task that will be the greatest challenge of the coming century.

Download or read book State and Societal Challenges in the Horn of Africa written by Collectif and published by Centro de Estudos Internacionais. This book was released on 2017-08-04 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings to fruition the research done during the CEA-ISCTE project ‘’Monitoring Conflicts in the Horn of Africa’’, reference PTDC/AFR/100460/2008. The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) provided funding for this project. The chapters are based on first-hand data collected through fieldwork in the region’s countries between 4 January 2010 and 3 June 2013. The project’s team members and consultants debated their final research findings in a one-day Conference at ISCTE-IUL on 29 April 2013. The following authors contributed to the project’s final publication: Alexandra M. Dias, Alexandre de Sousa Carvalho, Aleksi Ylönen, Ana Elisa Cascão, Elsa González Aimé, Manuel João Ramos, Patrick Ferras, Pedro Barge Cunha and Ricardo Real P. Sousa.

Download or read book Land Reforms and Natural Resource Conflicts in Africa written by Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-10-16 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a critical examination of the place and role of land in Africa, the role of land in political formation and national identification, and the land as an economic resource within both national economic development and liberal globalization. Colonial and post-colonial conflicts have been rooted in four related claims: the struggle over scarce resources, especially access to land resources; abundance of natural resources mismanaged or appropriated by both the states, local power systems and multinationals; weak or absent articulated land tenure policies, leading to speculation or hybrid policy framework; and the imperatives of the global liberalization based on the free market principles to regulate the land question and mineral appropriation issue. The actualization of these combined claims have led to conflicts among ethnic groups or between them and governments. This book is not only about conflicts, but also about local policy achievements that have been produced on the land question. It provides a critical understanding of the forces and claims related to land tenure systems, as part of the state policy and its system of governance.

Download or read book Fuelling War written by Philippe Le Billon and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-17 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A generous endowment of natural resources should favour rapid economic and social development. The experience of countries like Angola and Iraq, however, suggests that resource wealth often proves a curse rather than a blessing. Billions of dollars from resource exploitation benefit repressive regimes and rebel groups, at a massive cost for local populations. This Adelphi Paper analyses the economic and political vulnerability of resource-dependent countries; assesses how resources influence the likelihood and course of conflicts; and discusses current initiatives to improve resource governance in the interest of peace. It concludes that long-term stability in resource-exporting regions will depend on their developmental outcomes, and calls for a broad reform agenda prioritising the basic needs and security of local populations.