2 November 2009
The rise of Western, particularly American, power in the twentieth century has been closely wedded to the ascendancy of extractive industries, chiefly oil, mining, and gas. Extractive projects, conducted by consortiums of multinational corporations (MNCs), have projected Western power and influence around the globe while providing the vital resources to fuel Western industrial and military might. The superior technology possessed by Western MNCs throughout much of the past hundred years has allowed them to maintain a monopoly over these resources. The extractive industry’s role as a de facto extension of Western power and influence has made the success of these companies a vital concern to American and European policymakers. However, the benefits of extractive industry investment, production, and development have come at the expense of many of the host states where business is conducted. The world’s most corrupt and least developed countries, such as Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Sudan, contain some of the world’s most valuable natural resources. Revenue from resource extraction in the developing world has enabled regimes to derive their power from the natural riches of the earth rather than constituencies of their countrymen, which thereby undermines the emergence of democracy. In the developing world, an oil-producing country is twice as likely to suffer internal rebellion as a non-oil-producing one. In theory, the revenue generated from these commodities has the potential to elevate developing countries out of poverty and thus minimize the cycles of conflict and humanitarian disasters commonly found in the developing world. In reality, extractive projects frequently adversely affect the environment and disrupt the local economic and social fabric, which potentiates poverty, disease, and conflict.
