I. Readings for Session 7
Required
1. U.S. Agency for International Development, “Minerals and Conflict,” Washington, D.C.: USAID, 2004, pp. 1-15. Access/Download here.
Recommended
2. Michael L. Ross, What Do We Know About Natural Resources and Civil War?”, Journal of Peace Research, vol. 41, no. 3, 2004, pp. 337–356. Access/Download here.
II. Lecture Powerpoint Slides
Click the image below to access slides (in JPG format). You may download and view them as a Slideshow too!
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| 2008 10 22 Resource Wars EDSQuimpo |
III. Maps of Conflict Areas over Resources
(click links for larger size maps)
9. NGO Perspective on Mining and Community Development
10. Carmen de la Frontera Community Referendum 01
11. Carmen de la Frontera Community Referendum 02
12. Wangari Maathai - Resources and Conflict (Fora TV, Oct 30, 2006)
IV. Videos of Resource Wars
1. Africa's Oil (Business Week)
Author John Ghazvinian discusses how abundant oil has cursed a swath of countries in sub-Saharan Africa, from Angola and Nigeria to Chad and Sudan.
2. Nigeria's Oil: A Curse to Democracy [7:20-10:40] (June 5, 2008)
A documentary on the status of Nigeria's Democracy and how its resource of oil affects it.
3. Conflict over Water Scarcity (UNICEF, June 13, 2006)
UNICEF correspondent Sarah Crowe reports from Somalia on the drought in the Horn of Africa and Somalia's conflict over water.
Produced by the Pulitzer Center, "Congo's Bloody Coltan" is a quick glimpse at coltan's role in Congo's civil war. It was featured on "Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria" in the Fall of 2006. Coltan refers to Columbite-Tantalite, a metallic mineral used for the production of consumer electronics.
5. Make it Quick - Blood Diamond
This scene highlights how diamonds are considered "lootable" resources, thus affecting the intensity and duration of a conflict. View video through this link.
6. The Real Blood Diamond in Sierra Leone (National Geographic)
The Hollywood movie is set around actual historic events. See the reality: problems with diamond prospecting and diamond smuggling plagued the Western Africa nation of Sierra Leone, even after its civil war ended.
7. Myanmar's Deadly Ruby Trade (CNN, Sept 28, 2008)
A year after Myanmar's saffron revolution was crushed, CNN's Dan Rivers reports how rubies are propping up the junta.
8. Jewels of the Junta (Oct 2007)
Most of the world's finished rubies originate in Burma.
It is well known how the proceeds from sales of diamonds or oil can subsidize civil war and corrupt regimes, but less well known is how the international ruby trade sustains the Burmese junta.
It is well known how the proceeds from sales of diamonds or oil can subsidize civil war and corrupt regimes, but less well known is how the international ruby trade sustains the Burmese junta.
9. NGO Perspective on Mining and Community Development
Karen Hayes, program director for Pact Democratic Republic of Congo, takes a new perspective on extractive industries and building partnerships to do development at the community level for collective impact.
Visit their website at www.pactworld.org for more.
Visit their website at www.pactworld.org for more.
10. Carmen de la Frontera Community Referendum 01
Documentary videospot to support the referendum, which will be held on 16th of september in the districts Carmen de la frontera and Ayabaca to give the people a chance to decide wheater they want a model of development based on mining.
11. Carmen de la Frontera Community Referendum 02
Community referendum held on September 16th, 2007 in the city of Sapalache, province of Carmen de la Frontera in the state of Piura, northern Peru.
The referendum was organized by the municipality in the hopes of peacefully resolving the conflict between the community and the Majaz mining company. The company plans to construct a massive copper mine in a fragile cloud forest that supplies water to the entire region.
The referendum was organized by the municipality in the hopes of peacefully resolving the conflict between the community and the Majaz mining company. The company plans to construct a massive copper mine in a fragile cloud forest that supplies water to the entire region.
12. Wangari Maathai - Resources and Conflict (Fora TV, Oct 30, 2006)
Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai speaks on the relationship between scarce natural resources and global conflict.
Wangari Maathai on "Unbowed: A Memoir" Wangari Maathai, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, is the founder of the Green Belt Movement in her home country of Kenya, an environmental group that has restored indigenous forests and assisted rural women by paying them to plant trees in their communities. Since 1977, it has planted more than 30 million trees in Kenya and has been replicated in dozens of other African countries.
V. Review Points
Define the following terms:
- Resource Curse
- Resource War
- Dutch Disease
VI. Discussion Questions
- What are the three primary ways that valuable minerals are linked to violent conflict?
- What are some lessons learned and policy recommendations given by the "Minerals and Conflict"USAID report?
- Discuss the role of Civil Society organizations such as NGOs in your home country that works for community issues dealing with environment damages, mining and chemical poisoning, etc.
