Resource Wars Fuel Consumer Demand

Resource-related conflicts during the 1990s killed more than 5 million people and displaced 17 to 21 million.

Roughly one-quarter of the world’s 50 wars and armed conflicts of recent years have involved a struggle for control of natural resources like gemstones, timber, and oil—all of which are highly valued by wealthy consumers in the developed world. Virtually all of these conflicts have occurred in poor countries where a particular ethnic group or economic elite has gained control of resources at the expense of the poor majority.

Source:

Resource Wars Plague Developing World, Vital Signs 2003, pp. 120-121.
Worldwatch Paper 162: The Anatomy of Resource Wars, October 2002.

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More research from Worldwatch

Additional Resources:

Publications by Michael Ross, Assistant Professor, University of California at Los Angeles, Political Science Department: www.polisci.ucla.edu/faculty/ross/.