RESOURCE WARS IN THE 21st CENTURY (POL 160)

Stanford Continuing Education – Spring Term 2008

Dr. Barry M. Schutz

Building 200, Room 303
Tuesday, April 1-June 2, 7-9 P.M.
Email: bschutz@stanford.edu

Resource wars are becoming the dominant motif of international conflict and warfare in the 21st century. Growing scarcity of available oil and natural gas are the overwhelming reason for such ongoing and prospective resource wars. The emergence of China as a developing industrial and entrepreneurial power with hundreds of millions of new auto-driving consumers as well as only slightly less energy-hungry countries like India, Malaysia, and Brazil has added to U.S. energy-gorging attributes. Slightly further over the horizon are battles for fresh drinking water, ocean and fresh water fish, diamonds, critical minerals (e.g. uranium; cobalt; acreage for growing food, not fuel; and timber).

We shall look at a significant history of such conflict in the context of the Malthusian nightmare of the 19th century intruding with vengeance into the 21st century. After tracing the history of oil and war, we shall focus on conflict areas: the Middle East, Russia and Central Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Course Requirements and Support

Office (Café Style) Hours: Tuesday or Wednesday by appointment.

Students pursuing the course for letter grade or credit/noncredit are responsible for common assigned readings as indicated in the syllabus. They are also required to conduct research for submission of a 5 to 10 page paper focused on an ongoing or prospective resource war or conflict in a specific region or between two or more countries. Resource war within a specific country will also be accepted. A final examination will be distributed to these same students at our 10th meeting on June 2, and will be submitted to me in final form by email no later than 12 Noon, Wednesday, June 9.

For non-credit students, attendance and class participation is encouraged and should be of mutual benefit to yourselves and the class.

Course Readings

Students should purchase these required course texts available (fingers crossed) at Stanford Bookstore or through internet sellers like Amazon, Powell’s, or Barnes and Noble.

• Michael KLARE, Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy, Henry Holt and Co., New York, 2008.
• Philippe LE BILLON (Editor), The Geopolitics of Resource Wars: Resource Dependence, Governance, and Violence, Routledge, London, 2005.
• Sonia SHAH, Crude: The Story of Oil, Seven Stories Press, New York, 2004.

Optional:

• Mary KALDOR, Terry Lynn Karl, and Yahia Said (Editors), Oil Wars, Pluto Press, London, 2007. (Available through internet order only).

Other readings will be available either through email (sent by me) or distributed printouts in class. TOPICS AND READINGS (By Week)

Week 1: April 1. INTRODUCTION AND A HISTORY OF OIL TO WORLD WAR II.

Coverage of course requirements, readings, book availability with personal introductions and background. The development of oil as a vital resource from early times to World War II.

Assigned Reading:

• Shah, CRUDE, Pp. v-xxiii I.

Other Readings:

• Kenneth S. Deffeyes, HUBBERT’S PEAK: THE IMPENDING WORLD OIL SHORTAGE, Princeton University Press, 2001.
• Michael Economides and Ronald Oligney, THE COLOR OF OIL: THE HISTORY, THE MONEY, AND THE POLITICS OF THE WORLD’S BIGGEST BUSINESS, Round Oak Publishing, Katy, TX, 2000.
• Leonardo Maugeri, THE AGE OF OIL: THE MYTHOLOGY, HISTORY, AND FUTURE OF THE WORLD’S MOST CONTROVERSIAL RESOURCE, Praeger, Westport, CT, 2006.
• Francisco Parra, OIL POLITICS: A MODERN HISTORY OF PETROLEUM, I.B. Tauris, London, UK, 2005.

Week 2: April 8. THE DOMINANCE OF OIL:
From the Saudi Emergence to The Middle East Wars.

Assigned Reading:

• Shah, CRUDE, Pp. 1-87

Week 3: April 15. THE CURSE OF CRUDE OIL:
An Introduction to Its Deleterious Effects

Assigned Reading:

• Shah, CRUDE, Pp. 89-176

Other Reading:

• Shah, CRUDE, Pp. 177-216 (Tables and Endnotes)
• Richard Heinberg, THE PARTY’S OVER: OIL, WAR AND THE FATE OF INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES, New Society Publishers, Gabriola, British Columbia, 2008.
• Paul Roberts, THE END OF OIL: ON THE EDGE OF A PERILOUS WORLD, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2005.

Week 4: April 22. THE NEW ENERGY-DRIVEN WORLD ORDER:
The Geopolitics of Rising Powers

Assigned Reading:

• Klare, RISING POWERS, SHRINKING PLANET, Pp. 1-31.
• Le Billon (Ed.), THE GEOPOLITICS OF RESOURCE WARS, Pp. 1-28.

Other Reading:

• Klare, “How New Energy Order Will Dramatically Change Our Daily Lives,” TOMDISPATCH.COM, Posted April 16, 2008 Pp. 1-8.

Week 5: April 29. THE GLOBAL RESOURCE CRUNCH:
The Dynamics of Mineral Depletion in a Multi-Polar International System

Assigned Reading:

• Klare, RISING POWERS, SHRINKING PLANET, Pp. 32-62
• Kaldor, Karl, et al, OIL WARS, Pp. 1-40 (handout)
• Le Billon (Ed.), THE GEOPOLITICS OF RESOURCE WARS, “Natural Resources and Civil Strife,” Pp. 29-49

Week 6: May 6. THE RISING POWERS: CHINA, INDIA, RUSSIA.
New, and old, states pursue petroleum as competitors (or worse) of the U.S.

Assigned Reading:

• Klare, RISING POWERS, SHRINKING PLANET, Pp. 63-145.

Other Reading:

Week 7: May 13. THE GREAT GAME: AFRICA AND CENTRAL ASIA.
Comparative assessment of U.S./Western, Chinese, and Russian pursuit of natural resources in Africa and Central Asia.

Assigned Reading:

• Klare, RISING POWERS, SHRINKING PLANET, Pp. 115-176.
• Le Billon, THE GEOPOLITICS OF RESOURCE WARS, “The Struggle for Control of the Caspian,” Pp. 138-160.

Other Reading:

• John Ghazviinian, UNTAPPED: THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA’S OIL, Harcourt, Orlando FL, 2007.
• Nicholas Shaxson, POISONED WELLS: THE DIRTY POLITICS OF AFRICAN OIL, New York and Hampshire, UK, Palgrave/Macmillan, 2007.

Week 8: May 20. PEAKING OUT IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
The limits of Saudi munificence and the cost of Iraq and Iran oil.

Assigned Reading:

• Klare, RISING POWERS, SHRINKING PLANET, Pp. 177-237.

Other Reading:

• Matthew Simmons, TWILIGHT IN THE DESERT: THE COMING SAUDI OIL SHOCK AND THE WORLD ECONOMY, John Wiley, New York, 2005.
• Robert Vitalis, AMERICA’S KINGDOM: MYTHMAKING ON THE SAUDI OIL FRONTIER, Stanford University Press, 2007.
• Stephen Pelletiere, AMERICA’S OIL WARS, Praeger, Westport, CT, 2004.

Week 9: May 27. WAR OVER WATER AND OTHER RESOURCES.

Assigned Reading:

• Le Billon, THE GEOPOLITICS OF RESOURCE WARS, Pp. 213-270.
• Mark De Villiers, WATER: THE FATE OF OUR MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE, Pp. 1-26.

Other Reading:

• TBD

Week 10: June 3. ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES TO AVOID ENERGY WARS.
A search for answers to resource dependency, especially oil and other fossil fuels.

Assigned Reading:

• Klare, RISING POWERS, SHRINKING PLANET, Pp. 238-262.