Book Notes
| DOI | 10.1177/00223433030406010 |
| Author | Indra de Soysa |
| Date | 01 November 2003 |
| Published date | 01 November 2003 |
| Subject Matter | Notes |
747
Auty, Richard M., ed., 2001. Resource Abun-
dance and Economic Development (UNU/WIDER
Studies in Development Economics). Oxford:
Oxford University Press. 360 pp. ISBN
0199246882.
This study addresses the question of natural
resource abundance and development failure. In
the early days, poor countries were seen to be
poor because they had low savings rates and low
levels of investment, perpetuating a poverty trap.
Natural resources were seen as one way in which
to break this cycle. Rents from resources could be
deployed for investment and growth. After four
decades, it is clear that having resources could be
a curse, bringing with it its own trap. This book
provides conceptual chapters and some selected
cases highlighting the various mechanisms
through which resource-abundant countries fail.
The arguments are not deterministic, but they
show how policy can ameliorate the problems.
For example, policy could pay particular atten-
tion to macroeconomic factors in order to
mitigate the immediate effects of ‘Dutch disease’
by resisting the temptation to close the economy.
Conscious policies to diversify away from depen-
dence on a ‘point source’ resource are numerous,
and the Malaysia case study is illustrative.
Resources tend to create high income inequality,
which can erode social capital in the long run, but
special attention to schooling could perhaps
mitigate the extreme harm from these factors.
There is also an excellent discussion of account-
ing for national wealth that also considers deple-
tion and degradation of natural capital. Not only
does this book provide a foray into the cutting
edge of cross-disciplinary research into the
problems of natural resource-led development,
but it is also specialized reading on how we might
more broadly understand the connections
between resources and conflict. This volume
poses a serious challenge to theories of ‘ecovio-
lence’ that see scarcity of resources as a cause of
socio-economic decay and violence.
Indra de Soysa
Cirincione, Joseph, ed., 2000. Repairing the
Regime: Preventing the Spread of Weapons of Mass
Destruction. New York: Routledge. 304 pp. ISBN
0415925967.
As possible terrorist acquisition of ‘weapons of
mass effect’ is shaping international security
policies, and a doctrine of right of pre-emptive
attack against suspected or actual biological,
chemical and nuclear threats may be emerging,
the non-proliferation regime faces dire straits. To
prevent counter-proliferation taking precedence
over non-proliferation, the book sets out the
ambitious goal of ‘repairing the regime’. Pub-
lished in 2000, the book is in some regards as
timely as ever. Since then, the United States has
backed away from a draft verification protocol for
the Biological Weapons Convention. The
pressure on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT) is only increasing, in step with evidence of
non-compliance (Iraq), threats of withdrawal
(DPRK), lack of real nuclear disarmament and
last, but not least, a strong US unilateral prefer-
ence incompatible with multilateral commit-
ments. The book goes to the crux of the matter
and addresses current proliferation challenges: the
disarmament deadlock, regional nuclear hot spots
and strengths and weaknesses of the existing legal
non-proliferation framework. Contributions are
written by a mix of researchers and arms control
practitioners, with varying (political) backdrops.
Thus, the strongest criticism against the book is
what it does not cover. With the pace of inter-
national events, it is already somewhat outdated.
The international non-proliferation regime has
experienced both important progress and tough
setbacks in recent years, and the real effects of US
unilateralism and the ‘terrorist twist’ on inter-
national security relations remain to be seen.
Moreover, the focus of the book is inherently
nuclear – despite the useful overview of all
relevant regimes and examples of biological and
chemical warfare agents. Recommended –
pending an updated and expanded version!
Morten Bremer Mærli
© 2003 Journal of Peace Research,
vol. 40, no. 6, 2003, pp. 747–754
Sage Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA
and New Delhi) www.sagepublications.com
[0022-3433(200311)40:6; 747–754; 038294]
BOOK
NOTES
68S 10bkrevs (ds) 3/10/03 1:26 pm Page 747
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