Book Reviews : The Politics of Scarcity: Resource Conflict in International Relations. Foreword by Andrew Shonfeld. Philip Connolly and Robert Perlman. Published for Chatham House by Oxford University Press. £3.50

DOI10.1177/004711787600500317
Published date01 April 1976
Date01 April 1976
Subject MatterArticles
1057
basins,
hydro-electric
systems,
mining
districts,
oil
and
natural
gas
extraction
plants,
pasture
grounds,
etc.&dquo;
The
sections
on
Treaties
are
comparatively
brief
and,
of
course,
could
not
take
account
of
the
ILC
draft
articles
on
Succession
of
States
in
respect
of
Treaties.
Francis
A.
Vallat
The
Politics
of
Scarcity:
Resource
Conflict
in
International
Relations.
Foreword
by
Andrew
Shonfeld.
Philip
Connolly
and
Robert
Perlman.
Published
for
Chatham
House
by
Oxford
University
Press.
£3.50.
In
their
introduction
the
authors
point
out
that
&dquo;as
economic
growth
continues,
advanced
industrial
resource -
importing
nations
are
becoming
more
dependent
on
less
developed
resource-exporting
countries
(Europe,
for
example,
on
copper
from
Zambia
and
Chile:
Japan
on
oil
from
the
Middle
East)&dquo;.
The
wholly
unexpected
impact
of
the
Arab-Israeli
war
on
the
price
of
oil
is
dramatically
illustrated
by
the
fact
that
in
1970
the
average
revenue
per
barrel
of
crude
obtained
by
the
government
of
the
Gulf
oil-producing
states
stood
aft
around
90
US
cents,
total
revenue
of
the
countries
in
OPEC
being
around
$7
billion
and
virtually
all
crude
oil
produced
was
in
the
hands
of
the
European
and
American
oil
com-
panies.
By
1974,
however,
Gulf
crude
was
netting
the
producer
govern-
ments
over
$9
per
barrel
and
OPEC
revenues
were
running
at
$120
billion
per
annum.
Those
OPEC
governments
who
agreed
in
1973
to
25%
participation
in
oil
production
operations
have
either
60%,
or
are
contemplating
100%
control.
The
French
and
British
governments
concluded
separate
bilateral
oil
supply
deals
with
oil
producing
states
outside
the
normal
framework
of
the
oil
industry -
these
deals
were
accompanied
by
protests
from
other
members
of
the
European
Com-
munity
who,
later,
copied
them,
and
from
the
United
States.
Oil
policy
assumed
a
centre
stage
position
in
the
politics
of
the
European
Com-
munity
and,
for
a
period,
United
States/West
European
relations
declined
abysmally.
During
this
period
a
number
of
eminent
academics
were
warning
the
world
of
the
necessity
to
restrain
the
growth
of
consumption
before
the
processes
of
depletion,
pollution
and
population
increase
bought
it
to
a
disastrous
halt.
The
authors
distinguish
three
main
groups
of
nations,
those
with
surplus
resources
to
export,
those
which
are
self-sufficient
and
those,
developing
as
well
as
developed,
which
must
depend
on
others for
their
vital
raw
material.
They
examine
the
actual
and
potential
power
of
the
multinational
companies
and
the
possible
role
of
multinational
cartels.
The
book
is
divided
into
two
parts,
Part
I
dealing
with
&dquo;The
Anatomy
of
Scarcity&dquo;
and
covering
Resources,
the
Energy
Equation
and
An
Economic
Overview,
Part
II
with
&dquo;The
Politics
of
Scarcity&dquo;,
covering
Third
World
Resource
Exporters,
The
Consumers,
The
Independents,
’I’he
Poor
and
Implications
for
Policy.
Their
final
conclusions
are
cautiously
hopeful.
While
acknowledging
the
extent
and
complexity
of
the
problems
in
the
resources
field
they
repudiate
the
theory
that
the
resource
challenge
confronting
the
inter-
national
community
is
the
problem
of
halting
consumption
in
the
face
of
a
fixed
and
diminished
resource
inventory
in
favour
of
the
argument
that
natural
resources
have
a
fluid
and
ever-changing
nature
and
that
grounds
exist
for
optimism - albei~t
qualified - that
technology
will
solve
problems
of
exploration,
extraction,
substitution
and
environmental
impact.
But
they
emphasise
that
the
days
of
laissez-faire
are
over-for
instance
while
the
energy
problem
is
manageable,
it
must
be
managed
and
this
requirement
poses
formidable
political
and
monetary
problems
whose
solution
demands
more
good
will
and
co-operation
in
forward
planning
than
appears
readily
available.
But
&dquo;Unless
there
is
created
a
climate
of
co-operation
between
resource
importers
and
resource
exporters,
both
&dquo;stronger&dquo;,
and
&dquo;weaker&dquo;,
there
is
danger
not
only
of
political
acerbity
in
their
relations
but
also
of
economic
damage,
even
if
only
of
a
short
term
character,
to
the
interest
of
industrialized
countries&dquo;.
This
is
a
most
challenging
and
thought-provoking
book
which
deserves
to
be
very
widely
read
and
pondered.

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