Resource Wars

A transdisciplinary research project investigated the idea of framing climate and environmental change (CEC) as a new type of threat: a hyperthreat.

Traditional military analytical methods were used to assess the hyperthreat and its context and develop ideas about how an adequate response could be conceived.

This approach contrasts to prior literature and longstanding geopolitical discourse that identify the risks of taking a securitization approach.

Instead, the author argues that it is now riskier not to consider CEC within a mainstream geopolitical and nation-state security strategy.

When the hyperthreat of CEC is centered as the main threat to be contained, and its relationship to other threats is analyzed, startling new pathways to stability emerge.

The research developed a new theoretical approach called “entangled security” to develop an initial new “grand narrative” and “grand strategy” (PLAN E). This article offers a vision of how military theory can be reimagined to support new policy directions and security priorities.

Arms acquisition is a crucial venture for armed insurgency groups for carrying out their militant activities. I argue that the specific manner in which these groups obtain weapons may have important consequences for the dynamics of violent intrastate conflict. While most previous studies of the relationship between arms acquisition and armed conflict have focused solely on the impact of arms availability, in this article I analyze the impact of two specific aspects of arms acquisition patterns—the methods and the degree of leadership control—on the dynamics and nature of armed conflict in a qualitative case study of the armed conflict in the Niger Delta (Nigeria) between 1995 and 2005. I conclude that the specific arms acquisition method and the degree of leadership control over this process have strongly affected the dynamics of the conflict.

Human insecurity in Africa is linked to the war for resources characterised by illegal exploitation by criminal transnational commercial networks, pillage organised by armed gangs and irregular concessions of resources granted by politico-military alliances. The research has identified policy and technical issues on the potential for curbing the illegal exploitation natural wealth of the region such as Coltan, (columbite, tantalite - Ta2O5) used in mass production of electronic goods. Home to a vast potential of natural resources and mineral wealth, the Great Lakes Region possesses much of Africa’s forests and hydro-electric power potential that can provide to the entire continent. DRC’s untapped deposits of raw minerals alone are estimated in excess of US$ 24 trillion, yet it is one of the poorest nations. The paper outlines strategies for a regional initiative against illegal exploitation of resources and proactive measures, which should contribute to rehabilitate and protect the sovereign and inalienable right of the people and the States to use, manage and exploit their resources for their well-being, accompanied by rapid economic growth and sustainable human development.
Key words: Coltan, Resource Wars, illegal exploitation, natural resources, minerals

There is no comprehensive definition of a civil war that all scholars agree upon. The simplest definition is that of a violent conflict in which organized groups within a country fight against each other for political control (of the center, a region, or over a separatist state) or to change government policies. According to the fuller definition developed largely by J. David Singer and Melvin Small, a civil war is an armed conflict that has: (1) challenged the sovereignty of an internationally recognized state; (2) occurred within the recognized boundaries of that state; (3) involved the state as one of the principal combatants; (4) included rebels with the ability to mount an organized opposition; (5) involved parties concerned with the prospect of living together in the same political unit after the end of the war; and (6) caused more than one thousand deaths.