Resource Geopolitics – Oil and Water

The Resource Geopolitics dynamics generally evolve with the allocation of resources. The resources are the major diving source that helped in the power expansion process of Europe as history says. The inter-state competition is totally based on resources in different ways like trade, warfare, and dominance. These factors played a major role in Western geopolitics. The main concern was there the overseas resources and maritime routes. In the 17th century, there was a steady supply of timber which was a major objective for all European Powers. At this time, Europe started to dominate the waterlines during the world wars. The important things supplied through these routes and majorly oil. 

During the Cold War, the northern nations industrialized themselves through different tactics of safeguard including resource flow management and military deployment. The diplomatic relations helped the friendly nations and other nations came under the agreement of the multinational cooperations. At this time, oil became an important commodity and so many nations started their rivalry due to this. Gradually West Asia, specifically the Gulf Region emerged as a place of oil resources. Around 64 % of known reserves of oil are found in the Gulf Region. 

After this, the water also became a part of the dispute. It became a critical factor because of the context of the freshwater reserve. There are certain regions in the world where the freshwater reserve is too low. This also created so many conflicts and led to water wars. Another water dispute happened over pollution, irrigation, and dam construction which highlighted the potential conflicts as well, The Resource Geopolitics studies the sharing of river basins that can lead to military tensions.  

Resource Geopolitics is a subpart of Class 12 Political Science Chapter 6 which is the Environment and Natural Resources. Resource Geopolitics is a method to study how natural resources actually affect the power and influence the states to achieve their further political goals. It majorly analyzes the inter-state rivalry that originated from Western geopolitical thinking. This thought also influences and dominates the relationship between trade war and the power of a country. As an example, we can talk about the oil and oil reserves. Oil is that type of commodity which have the power to generate so much wealth. There are so many industrialized countries that may deploy their all types of military sections to show their power along the sea lines and near the exploitation sites. Resource Geopolitics comes into this picture to study how the states are using their resources to show themselves strong to the world.

In this article, we are going to discuss the Class 12 Political Science Chapter 6 subpart Resource Geopolitics in detail.