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

by Philippe Le Billon

From Angola and Liberia to Iraq and the Congo, wars have taken place in resource rich countries full of poor people. In Wars of Plunder Philippe Le Billon explores how resources have shaped recent conflicts, and what the international community has tried to do about it. 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. Although the 'War on Terror' has redefined military assistance and the internationalisation of war, many belligerents continue to rely on and profit from 'conflict resources'. 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 poor countries, reliance on resource exports often implies sharp 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.

Genres: Politics

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2011

Reviews

[Nils]

Very good political ecology of so-called 'resource wars,' combining both quantitative and qualitative research, as well as case studies of DRC, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, and Nigeria on how different kinds of resources affect the onset and duration of different sorts of conflict.

In particular he has two very interesting 2x2 charts. The first has do with the location and distribution of the resources: are the "point" or "diffuse"? And: are the proximate or distant from centers of power? If they are point and proximate, the most likely form of violence is a coup d'etat. If point and distant, expect secessionism. If diffuse and distant, warlordism is likely to prevail. And if diffuse but proximate, expect a mass uprising. The second 2x2 has to do with the socio-physical and legal qualities of the resources: are they legal or illegal, lootable or not? Examples of legal-lootable resources are items like as alluvial diamonds, timber, and onshore oil. Examples of illegal-lootables are narcotics. Examples of legal non-lootables are deep pit minerals (like diamonds), dams, and most offshore oil. (An examples of illegal non-lootables might be uranium: the myth that these were in fact lootables was one of the main pieces of derp that justified the Iraq War.) What is interesting in all this is not just the typology but the kinds of conflicts that are likely to emerge around each sort is quite different (additional factors include capital-intensivity, logistics questions, totals and distribution of revenues, as well as global elasticity of demand). The controversial findings include that secessionist movements (which usually deal with point resources far from the centers of power) are best addressed through revenue sharing -- most controversially, de Billon includes revenue sharing around illegal goods such as narcotics. This of course conforms closely to the experience that Americans had with opium farmers in Afghanistan, though it remains and almost taboo discussion. Also likely to be controversial is the assertion that sanctions appear only to be effective (if at all) when applied to legal lootable resources.

All of this is rendered with a great deal of ethnographic sensitivity and appropriate caveating; it should be required for anyone interested in subnational conflicts and conflict resolution.

[Syed Saqib Mumtaz Hashmi]

The Book investigates that term Resource wars is a myth or supported by some solid evidence to support it.