Buy new:
-23% $15.49
FREE delivery Wednesday, May 15 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon
Sold by: Sequencing Enterprises
$15.49 with 23 percent savings
List Price: $20.00

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Wednesday, May 15 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or fastest delivery Friday, May 10. Order within 20 hrs 4 mins
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$15.49 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$15.49
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon
Ships from
Amazon
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$6.99
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
Shows general overall wear. Ships direct from Amazon! Shows general overall wear. Ships direct from Amazon! See less
FREE delivery Thursday, May 16 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or fastest delivery Friday, May 10. Order within 20 hrs 4 mins
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$15.49 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$15.49
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Michael T. Klare
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict With a New Introduction by the Author Paperback – March 13, 2002

by Michael Klare (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 79 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$15.49","priceAmount":15.49,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"15","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"49","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"jL%2BzujNV7Q%2BvpXfYUsfon8DU2SZGcRDfA7Af3qvNwo92KrXN4so90KeV9tRYOegonTpBHhbwp%2Bp60wNv4PzoP8cSnpLZYDtiqMAC0%2FASWqODby2c2HH39%2B3ulZwj%2FE2VDTa%2BHIWgGtEjYbSDMIe%2BemmBlSTCgyDTguAW%2B4sSCzs5msVmgAR%2BTg%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$6.99","priceAmount":6.99,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"6","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"99","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"jL%2BzujNV7Q%2BvpXfYUsfon8DU2SZGcRDf0fXRIb%2FcifXWfqfd2%2B7tAql4W49ZQcc3%2BSkFFRu8hDrUEvohulWWp9iZ4tSF7QvyQyKpNoyl6vGFFz8%2BxljAv9PfIPn8c8cO0FtOS7uXkKo4Rk%2FKG9m%2FVSLmi36OCcSyD1kxnI4xoALxtH47ZqEghw%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

From the oilfields of Saudi Arabia to the Nile delta, from the shipping lanes of the South China Sea to the pipelines of Central Asia, Resource Wars looks at the growing impact of resource scarcity on the military policies of nations.

International security expert Michael T. Klare argues that in the early decades of the new millennium, wars will be fought not over ideology but over access to dwindling supplies of precious natural commodities. The political divisions of the Cold War, Klare asserts, have given way to a global scramble for oil, natural gas, minerals, and water. And as armies throughout the world define resource security as a primary objective, widespread instability is bound to follow, especially in those areas where competition for essential materials overlaps with long-standing territorial and religious disputes. In this clarifying view, the recent explosive conflict between the United States and Islamic extremism stands revealed as the predictable consequence of consumer nations seeking to protect the vital resources they depend on.

A much-needed assessment of a changed world, Resource Wars is a compelling look at warfare in an era of rampant globalization and intense economic competition.

Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    304 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Holt Paperbacks
  4. Publication date
    March 13, 2002
  5. Dimensions
    5.56 x 0.91 x 8.16 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0805055762
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0805055764
  8. See all details
Next page
The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Frequently bought together

Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict With a New Introduction by the Author
$15.49
Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 15
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by Sequencing Enterprises and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
+
The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations
$12.59
Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
All Hell Breaking Loose: The Pentagon's Perspective on Climate Change
$23.56
Get it as soon as Thursday, May 16
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by numberonestore and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Some of these items ship sooner than the others.
Show details Hide details
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Brilliantly researched, ably argued . . . Resource Wars shows a new geography of conflict based on looming scarcities. Klare's analysis is indisputable.” ―David Rieff, Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Klare's is a rigorous and coolly executed work with sobering implications for the next several decades of life on earth.” ―Mike Newirth, In These Times

About the Author

Michael T. Klare is the author of fourteen books, including Resource Wars, Blood and Oil, Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet and The Race for What's Left. A regular contributor to Harper's, Foreign Affairs, and the Los Angeles Times, he is the defense analyst for The Nation and the director of the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College in Amherst.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Holt Paperbacks; First Edition (March 13, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0805055762
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0805055764
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.1 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.56 x 0.91 x 8.16 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 79 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Michael T. Klare

Michael T. Klare

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
79 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Neal Vanderstelt
5.0 out of 5 stars Power where does it all stem from...
Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2006
Verified Purchase
This is a good book and it really opens your eyes to all the bickering that occures over the use of resources.. When you think of resources a lot of people think of hard material items such as gold or oil as scarce but even the most basic element water is faught over on a day-to-day basis in rugged territories and contested borders. How many people know that Roosevelt had a meeting with King Abdel-Aziz in 1945 and the bearing it had on US Saudi relations to date? How many people know about France's ties with Saddaam Hussein before the 90's? How about the divide between the rich and the poor refered to as globalization?
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Jesse Taylor
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating reading
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2009
Verified Purchase
Absolutely incredible book on natural resource conflicts. This book opened my eyes to many issues I had never considered before. For instance, I had never thought about Egypt's desire to destabilize the other nations in the Nile River basin, in order to prevent them from becoming wealthy enough to be able to construct expensive dams and waterworks which would divert water from the Nile to feed people. Nor had I thought of Russia's interest in maintaining instability in Georgia, so that oil pipelines could not be safely run through there (thus forcing Caspian Sea oil to travel through Russian pipelines instead) ... Engaging and important. Highly recommended.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Arthur P. Smith
4.0 out of 5 stars Well Researched, But Aren't there Alternatives?
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2005
Verified Purchase
Warnings about limits to the world's resources being inadequate for humanity's appetite date back at least to the period in the 1970's, when rising oil prices and lines at the pump provided a stark lesson in constraints for the American public. That public awareness has been re-awakened now under similar and perhaps more terminal circumstances. But there are strong indications that an understanding and focus on resource limits has been at the background of government actions for the past three decades and even earlier, despite an outward downplaying of the issue.

Michael Klare's book concentrates first on the issue of petroleum resources, a key flash point in the modern world. Access to petroleum is itself central to modern warfare, and those who control oil have used the revenue to build up their own military capabilities. Aside from American and Iraqi actions in the Middle East, actual conflicts have been limited to minor skirmishes thus far, but the build-up of arms is an ominous sign, as oil becomes scarcer and more valuable.

In the Persian Gulf, Klare documents the decades of first British and then American involvement, propping up friendly regimes and selling vast quantities of advanced weaponry. The expenditures on American might, even before the Iraq occupation (Klare's book was first published before even the September 11, 2001 attacks) have been astronomical; the US Central Command and Fifth Fleet exist largely to protect American interests (oil) in the Gulf region. The outcome of all that spending is pretty clear too: utter failure. Iran was long ago lost to American influence. Iraq seems likely to follow Iran; at the least, American efforts there have only resulted in lower, not higher, oil production. Saudi Arabia and many of the others are unstable, with super-wealthy upper classes threatened by religious fundamentalists and the poor, who only resent perceived American domination of their countrys' affairs.

Klare also reviews the interesting story of US policy in the Caspian region; developments since the Afghanistan war in that region have brought it even more under US influence since Klare wrote. The potential vast oil reserves there and in the South China Sea have brought major nations face to face with one another, staking out claims and influence, but so far avoiding outright war. Klare's discussion suggests that relative peace will not long continue: at some point the resources become valuable enough to risk large-scale combat, with outcomes likely bad for everybody.

Beyond oil, Klare discusses water resources extensively, particularly the Nile, but also a number of other cases where a major fresh water supply is divided among several nations. For rivers, upstream nations can take advantage of the geography to exploit as much of the water as they dare; in some cases only threats from more powerful downstream neighbors (such as Egypt for the Nile) keep the urge to divert water in check.

Other resources have also sparked conflict, in some cases civil war rather than war between nations: diamonds, precious metals and other ores, forests, and so forth. This seems to be particularly a problem in Africa where Klare discusses several recent examples. The existence of the resource draws in money that can be used to buy military capabilities; conflict seems to almost inevitably ensue.

In some respects, Klare seems to overstate the case. In briefly discussing possible solutions to all this, he seems to believe that only international institutions making allocation decisions for scarce resources would be able to tackle the problem. But one wonders - why are we trying to win by force what we can just buy in free markets with money? For instance, Iranian oil is essentially the same as oil from any other nation, it enters as additional supply in the world market and therefore has the net effect of lowering per barrel costs to US consumers. So what does it matter that the US has no influence over Iran these days? And if the foreigners who control oil raise prices for us, all the better for the alternatives we know we're going to need eventually anyway.

Many of the resource problems are a matter of ill-defined boundaries that could be resolved by some sort of international boundary disputes court, surely simpler than an international resource allocation system.

This all suggests that the real motives of governments striving to obtain influence over resource-rich regions is not the benefit of their own people, but the enrichment of certain segments of their society: those who profit more directly from resource extraction activities. Or, assuming stupidity instead of conspiracy, it could simply be an irrational need for control pushing governments in these directions. In either case Klare's book worryingly sets the stage for major global conflict over resources in coming years.
13 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Bethany
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome
Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2021
Verified Purchase
Awesome. I learned so much helpful information. I was really curious about the future of energy, and this answered a lot of my questions.
Helpful
 Report
Corey Gonzales
5.0 out of 5 stars Published in 2001, issues still relevant.
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2019
Verified Purchase
Very interesting read! However, take note it was written in 2001. Reviewing some of the projections, it falls short. However, the issues reviewed in the book are still of extreme importance today.
Helpful
 Report
Kindle Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Too much detail
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2013
Verified Purchase
This could have been an article. Includes more detail than required for an enjoyable read. Also a bit dated. OK.
Helpful
 Report
Aleyda Marquez
5.0 out of 5 stars Came in great condition and it was affordable
Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2015
Verified Purchase
Came in great condition and it was affordable. Unfortunately, the book contents were not for me, but that doesn't affect the rating of the book. It's still a book and I have absolutely no complaints.
Helpful
 Report
bps
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb reading
Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2014
Verified Purchase
This is one of the best reading materials on the topic.
Though a little dated, no other book covers the issue in such a clear manner.

My only regret is that the book needs to be updated.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Marwan
1.0 out of 5 stars Kam Beschädigt an
Reviewed in Germany on August 2, 2022
Verified Purchase
The media could not be loaded.
 Auf jeder Seite des Buches ist verschütteter Kaffee. Also kein hat Lust solche Bücher zum Lesen. Buch wurde zurück gegeben.
Report
retroW
5.0 out of 5 stars Explains the real reasons behind wars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 5, 2013
Verified Purchase
Klare explains the real reasons the West is involved with so many states and in so many wars. You'd think with social and technological developments war would become less frequent as time passes but Klare shows how to stay in power and to ensure good business Western countries such as Britain and the US engage in multiple wars and planting of dictatorships.
Must read for anyone interested in the logic behind all these wars and Western meddling in other countries' affairs.
One person found this helpful
 Report
Dr. M. McAuley
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 3, 2017
Verified Purchase
An important book with a truly big picture of what's really going on in the world.
Report
sonojordan
4.0 out of 5 stars グローバリズムとはアメリカの植民地化。
Reviewed in Japan on November 15, 2003
Verified Purchase
「イスラム原理主義」は清教徒アメリカが捏造した。
イラン革命におけるイスラムの狂信性を強調して、背後にある政治的な策略「エネルギー安全保障」というもっともらしい正義のためにだ。
全てはアメリカの石油（のみならず）利権のためにある。
その全体像を本書はわかりやすく？説明し、警鐘を鳴らしている。
ただ、全編において、知っていてもなんのトクにもならない中東の国名や地方都市名、横文字の固有名詞、数値などが羅列しているページが多いため、数字嫌いのわたしには、何度も読み返しが必要で、読後ものすごく疲れが残った。（笑）
ので、星ひとつマイナス・・・
2 people found this helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Informative and interesting read
Reviewed in Canada on August 3, 2018
Verified Purchase
Even though this was an older book, it provided some great insight into major world problems relating to resources. I would highly recommend this as a good read to anyone who is interested in conserving resources and sustainability issues.
Report