conflicts over resources

• physical resources disputed

  • having control over resources beggining to run out is crucial if a country wants to gain or maintain superpower status
  • disputes over who has the right to use:

  -reserves may not sit completely within one countrys borders eg lakes or oil reserves cross international boundaries-transboundary resources

  -land or sea resources are found in may be under territorial dispute, 2 or more countries claim ownership over area

  -some resources basic human rights eg water, countries more likely to share however some comercially profitable eg oil
• disputes caused tension

  • may arise when one country wants to use resource and other wants to conserve it
  • or when multiple countries show an interest in unclaimed territory
• arctic oil and gas

  • reserves of oil and natural gas in arctic circle, north pole not well protected from resource exploitation so many countries making territorial claims on arctic ocean
  • canada, usa, russia some countries which have made territorial claims, however position of these countries means they are overlapping= disputes eg between USA and canada
  • both USA and RUSSIA= significant military presence and as sea ice melting its easier to navigate and can move military closer to area
• overlapping spheres of influence

  • sphere of influence=territorial area country has influence over
  • superpower has a larger sphere of influence than periphery
  • overlapping spheres=area pulled back and forth between 2 ideologically opposing influences
• case study: south and east china seas

  • china looked to expand marine territory into the south china sea to make use of fishing grounds and oil/gas reserves- by claiming a number of small islands
  • however other countries in chinese sea eg the philippines have disputed chinas claims on islands
  • china reacted by posting a large naval presence throughout the region and constructed artifical islands= disruption to fish breeding cycles and coral reefs
• tensions result in open conflict

  • annexation- act of one country seizing part of an established territory without permissions
  • eg annexation of Crimea= collapse of USSR created number of independant states in eastern europe
  • in feb 2014 russia annexed crimean peninsula in southern ukraine- russian forces took control of military bases and crimean parliment
• sanctions on Russia

  • 2014 invasian of crimea= russia removed from G8 and sanctioned, travel bans and european/american industries stopping trade with russian countries
  • in 2022- russia launched a full invasion on ukraine
• counterfeiting undermines intellectual property rights

  • Counterfeiting is a fraudulent imitation (a forgery) of a trusted brand and product,
  • UN operates the world intellectual property organisation- enabling creators to protest their protection- intellectual property rights
  • IPR= prevents an idea or design being used by another person or company in order to profit, theft of intellectual property illegal
• intellectual property theft, 2 outcome:

  • companies that steal intellectual property may produce counterfeit goods that match real branded products=very clear breach of law
  • or steal intellectual property and produce own version of a product that uses some features of original- decided by court if idea different enough
• counterfeiting- tension in trade relationship

  • strain economic and political relationships between countries- gov. may seem politically if they do little to stop production of counterfeit goods
  • economically, country may not wish to create trade agreements with a country that turns a blind eye to counterfeiting

  TNCS MAY REDUCE INVESTMENTS IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FACILITIES

  TNCS MAY WITHDRAW WIDER OPERATIONS FROM COUNTRY IF THEY FEEL LOCAL GOV DOES NOT DO ENOUGH TO PREVENT COUNTERFEITING
• Explain why marine territorial claims are often disputed (4)

  -       Disputes can arise from overlapping claims based on the size of each country exclusive economic zone (EEZ)

  -       An EEZ= marine area 200 nautical miles off the coastline and is included in the territory of the country in question

  -       Controlling these areas can provide countries with valuable natural resources and military power, can grow their sphere of influence

  -       Disputes-countries not able to agree on how to share an area which is considered economically, politically, and militarily important.