Resource Competition and Social Justice

One of the big questions of our time is how to deal with competing claims to scarce natural resources. Given the multiple competing pressures on resources, how can we organize resource access in a fair way? Global problems around resource grabbing continue to be high on the agenda and it remains difficult to reconcile large scale land acquisition and infrastructural investment with equitable and sustainable development. The current concern with climate change adds to these pressures: measures related to carbon emission reduction, alternative sources of energy, and climate adaptation tend to have considerable land foot prints. We need to ask ourselves: where is that land is coming from and are existing rights protected? This course offers students a broad understanding of current day processes of resource competition and provides key conceptual building blocks to analyze its dynamics and outcomes. How we conceptualize resource competition informs the direction in which we look for solutions. The course examines resource competition in terms of 'new enclosures', stressing resource capture by powerful actors at the expense of less powerful users. We critique (violent) competition as a 'simple' response to resource scarcity and unpack the underlying dynamics of resource appropriation and unequal access. We analyze the interplay of power and politics, the law, and violence, as well as the relation between open conflict and structural forms of exclusion and dispossession. To do so, we draw on several theoretical approaches to resource competition, most importantly: political ecology, anthropology, and conflict studies. In the final weeks, the course discusses approaches to prevent resource grabbing and work towards social and environmental justice. Guest lecturers from within and outside the university share their views and experiences on due diligence, consultation, land rights registration, and civil society advocacy.

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:

• Conceptualize manifestations of resource competition
• Analyze dynamics of power and contention in resource competition with the use of suitable, up-to-date theories
• Identify approaches to address natural resource competition and critically reflect on the potential of these approaches to contribute to social justice
• Develop skills in analytical and argumentative writing
• Reflect on their own position and options for professional engagement with resource conflict and social/environmental justice
• Connecting course topics to societal challenges by developing a tutorial

Assumed Knowledge:

This course is open to students from different disciplinary backgrounds. We expect you to have prior knowledge in one of the following fields- broadly defined: development studies, natural resource management (land, water, forest etc), social geography, land use planning, social anthropology. If you have doubts about your entry level or the added value of the course, please contact the course coordinator to discuss your concerns. We welcome students from a range of programs, including BIL, BIN, BMS etc.