Michael T. Klare is the director of the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies at Amherst
and author of Low-Intensity Warfare, Word Security, and Rogue States and Nuclear Outlaws. He lives in Northampton,
Massachusetts.
Review
"Brilliantly researched, ably argued . . . Resource Wars shows a new geography of conflict based on looming
scarcities. Klare's analysis is indisputable."
--David Rieff, Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Klare's is a rigorous and coolly executed work with sobering implications for the next several decades of
life on earth."
--Mike Newirth, In These Times
Cambridge University Press Web Site, October, 2003
Summary
From the oilfields of Saudi Arabia to the Nile delta, from the shipping lanes of the South China Sea to the
pipelines of Central Asia, Resource Wars looks at the growing impact of resource scarcity on the military policies
of nations.
International security expert Michael T. Klare argues that in the early decades of the new millennium, wars will
be fought not over ideology but over access to dwindling supplies of precious natural commodities. The political
divisions of the Cold War, Klare asserts, have given way to a global scramble for oil, natural gas, minerals, and
water. And as armies throughout the world define resource security as a primary objective, widespread instability
is bound to follow, especially in those areas where competition for essential materials overlaps with long-standing
territorial and religious disputes. In this clarifying view, the recent explosive conflict between the United States
and Islamic extremism stands revealed as the predictable consequence of consumer nations seeking to protect the
vital resources they depend on.
A much-needed assessment of a changed world, Resource Wars is a compelling look at warfare in an era of rampant
globalization and intense economic competition.