The Politics of Natural Resources in the Caspian Sea

This chapter examines the politics of the natural resources of the Caspian Sea as littoral states vie for dominance on energy resources and its routes to the world markets against a background of climate change, region-wide sustainability challenges, and local pollution. The Caspian is in full transformation and solving these problems will require a shift in regional politics towards environmental cooperation and political integration. However, the inherent challenges of such a new approach are compounded by the landlocked position of Caspian countries, uncertainty among littoral states as to each other’s intentions and a decaying infrastructure, last updated in the Soviet era.

Learning Geopolitical Pluralism

The Middle East, viewed by many as a geopolitical prize astride three continents, is now sharply contested and fragmented by proxy wars in Libya, Syria, and Yemen reflecting a painful readjustment of the global balance that empowers regional rivalries. While the local conflicts are not about oil, the imputed strategic value of the commodity has reinforced the region’s geopolitical significance as an arena for competition among great powers. This chapter surveys present and past international regimes for managing the supply and distribution of oil. It is argued that key state actors may learn to practice geopolitical pluralism in this clearly defined sector of international political economy, with potential spill-over into related sectors alleviating the contemporary world disorder

Burning Somalia’s Future

This chapter argues that the charcoal trade exposes Somalia’s political economy as a driver of persistent conflict fueled by competing local, regional, and international interests. Of particular note is the tendency of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states to buy Somalia’s charcoal, whether licit or illicit, for domestic use: such commercial activity contributes to the country’s regressive imbalances. At the same time, GCC states jockeying for geopolitical influence across the Horn of Africa increases the uneven spread of resources and access to finance for Somalia’s leaders. This process has fed the political elite’s insatiable appetite for personal patronage and has produced a nexus of competing rivalries that further destabilizes Somalia and the broader Red Sea region. This chapter studies the use of one natural resource, charcoal, and its trans-boundary trade as a vehicle to illustrate how Somalia’s ties to the GCC states—and the broader Islamic or Arab world—are being strengthened. The chapter concludes that this growing proximity is both offering beneficial forms of assistance and support, as well as proving to be a factor for destabilization at a time when Somalia is becoming of increasing strategic concern for Western and emerging powers.

Tunisian Phosphates and the Politics of the Periphery

Using underexplored grey literature and personal interviews with officials, experts and businessmen, this chapter discusses the constitutive role of phosphate mining and trade unions in the politics of the periphery in Tunisia - politics that have been crucially affected by post-independence development agendas, the transformation of national elites in the crony capitalism of the Ben Ali era and its interplay with international donor and development institutions. First, the paper gives an historic overview of Tunisian phosphate mining and its role in regional development. Second, it analyses the politics of Tunisia’s periphery, the role of the Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail within it and the emergence of new social actors. Third, it takes a detailed look at how such conflicts played out during the strikes in the phosphate mines in 2008 and after 2011. It concludes with an outlook on future developments.

Environmental Activism in the Middle East and North Africa

Environmental activism has intensified across the Middle East and North Africa over the past few decades, focusing primarily on environmental issues that affect public health and livelihoods. While intrusive security states limit information and stifle civil society, expanding educational opportunities, growing cities, and new means of communication have enabled environmental activism. This includes small-scale, informal, and localized activism to demand access to natural resources and environmental services; the spread of environmental nongovernmental organizations; and the coordinated popular resistance campaign that includes direct action, media outreach, and lobbying. State elites and official media often portray environmental mobilization as a threat to national security and state integrity, but sometimes tolerate it as an informal enforcement mechanism to pressure polluting firms and nonresponsive officials. As elsewhere, state and corporate actors also increasingly deploy their own discourses and interventions, generally focused on technocratic solutions rather than questions of political economy and environmental justice.

Introduction

We sent down water, as a blessing from the sky and made grow gardens with it and grain for the harvest, and lofty date palm-trees with their spathes, piled one above the other As sustenance for (Our) servants We gave (new) life thereby to a dead land....

Scarcity Drives Economic Development

This chapter studies the varieties of exported goods from MENA countries to gauge the impact of fossil fuel subsidies on industrial diversification. Subsidies may provide a cost advantage to MENA based firms. However, subsidies can also relieve pressure on producers to innovate towards energy efficiency of goods and production processes. As international demand for energy efficient goods increases, the lack of innovation towards this objective may harm their ability to export to European and other high-income markets. The chapter finds that MENA countries with lower subsidies or net-taxes on fossil fuels are able to target their exports specifically to more advanced OECD economies and export more varieties but tend to have fewer export destinations.

Illegal Fishing and Piracy in the Horn of Africa

The Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Indian Ocean have always been vital routes for world navigation and traveling. These waters are particularly important for most of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa. This chapter examines the geopolitics of maritime piracy and IUU fishing in the Horn of Africa waters. First, the chapter provides historical background on maritime piracy in Somalia, arguing that this is a new phenomenon in the region. Second, it discusses the extent of illegal fishing in Somali waters. Third, it assesses the political and economic explanations for clandestine maritime activities of statelessness, illegal fishing, toxic waste dumping, and poverty. Fourth, the chapter analyzes the implications of piracy and illegal fishing for the MENA region.

Greening Gulf Landscapes

Gulf states have paid too much effort toward the greening of cities and too little to fundamentally changing the way they see agricultural lands and deteriorated natural habitats. Most of the greening programs prioritise techniques and interventions, such as introducing exotic plants, that are not adapted to the local environments. The result is that greening projects, especially those in deserts, have failed and proven unsustainable. This chapter discuss what the alternative -maintaining sustainable green desert landscapes- might look like. Proposed innovations include using native trees, instead of exotics, and introducing genetically modified crops designed to tolerate the abiotic stresses and salt tolerant plants (halophytes) to reduce the pressure on fresh water resources

The Securitization of Oil and its Ramifications in the Gulf Cooperation Council States

This chapter examines the political construction of a new understanding of how natural resources and security are linked in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. The chapter begins with the role of oil in state and class formation and then examines its broader securitization in the Gulf, a trend of particular salience in the last 10-15 years. The study documents the driving forces and motivations behind this process, both regionally and locally, then concludes with some reflections on the links between natural resources, development trajectories, and political outcomes.