Mineral energy sources and political activities: introduction to mutual dependencies and their selected exemplification
Wawrzyniec Konarski
Institute of Intercultural Studies, Chair of Ethnocultural Politics, Jagiellonian University, 3 Gronostajowa Str., 30-387 Kraków (Poland)
Abstract
The mineral energy sources, possessed by a certain state or remaining an object of interest for it, may form a basis for political activities, both oriented on usage either of the purely political (non-militarized) or militarized methods. The usage of these sources in the political context may have a natural impact on the essence of sustainable development, especially then if to juxtapose it with previous experiences of the mankind. The natural gas based energy policy seems to be the key factor for the above political activities of states with imperial ambitions, as the contemporary Russia. Referring to the shale gas, the syndrome as such concerns the monopolistic position of the USA in terms of the applied exploitation technologies. The size of coal mining and steel production at the turn of the 19th and 20th century, or oil fields’ possession and their usage before and during WW II used to play such a role in the past. In both of these cases there were necessary prerequisites for planning the military campaigns in potential wars (envisaged as successful indeed). Fortunately such an extreme way of conducting political activities is not confirmed today. Following the same trace the policy of the possessed energy sources’ usage, or taking over those being in possession of others, might ultimately lead towards maintaining an economic and perhaps political supremacy of ones over others. On the one hand it demonstrates the policy of pressure led by stronger, imperially oriented states against weaker and dependent ones. On the other one, it shows the results of the mutual antagonizing policy of the latter stimulated by the stronger state- and non-state-like entities, having their own interests. Due to some experiences, taken from the most recent past, one can speculate, if the possessed or desired energy sources may be utilized as a tool for unequivocally political decisions, also in the military sphere. It is hard to be optimistic bearing in mind the rule that history tends to repeat itself. Such scepticism is even deeper if we realize that the control over the water reserves remains a source of the future large-scale international conflicts.
Keywords:
sustainable development, policy/politics, mineral energy sources, political supremacyReferences
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Authors
Wawrzyniec KonarskiInstitute of Intercultural Studies, Chair of Ethnocultural Politics, Jagiellonian University, 3 Gronostajowa Str., 30-387 Kraków Poland
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