cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/46788659
Looking at how much conflict natural resource-rich countries (oil, gold, diamonds…) seem to attract, I wonder whether such wealth is more a curse than a blessing.
Many regions with scarce natural resources, adapted & perform very well. Some of the richest are examples (Switzerland, Luxembourg, Singapore…)
Looks to me like the greed for them attracts conflicts: civil wars, invasions etc. Cultural, ethnic, religious reasons often just seem to be used to cover it.
Plus all the environmental destruction / pollution that come with the extraction & processing.
100% they are. I would rather have them than not. Europe has em and so does the us and canada and australia. I think the resources bring conflict is circumstance as every place has them if they are of any significant size. It could be being small land wise or population wise with lots of easy to get resources might tend to lead to that. Places like cuba don’t have it easier for lack of resources nor japan despite its success.
Well some have way more “valueable” ones than others. I don’t believe it’s a size related thing (considering Africa, South America, Eastern Europe…). Here is a link somebody sent me, seems to be an actual theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse
yeah I am aware of the theory im just not sure how much credence I feel it has because it feels like cherry picking. the reason “bad” places have resources is because of how common having resources is. I mean saudi arabi while a monarchy is also a welfare state. They are dicks to low level labor they bring in but for the natives it was not exactly a curse. When you look at oil it seems a lot is related to how well you play ball.