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 supremacy

BARDI U., Der geplünderte Planet: Die Zukunft des Menschen im Zeitalter schwindender Ressourcen, oekom verlag, München 2013.
  Google Scholar

BEALS C., The Coming Struggle for Latin America, Halcyon House, New York 1940.
  Google Scholar

BERLIN Film Festival review: Promised Land starring Matt Damon is too dry and sober, 2013, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/berlin-film-festival-review-promised-land-starring-matt-damon-is-too-dry-and-sober-8487709.html (08.02.2013).
  Google Scholar

BROWN D., Palmerston. A Biography, Yale University Press, London 2010.
  Google Scholar

CRICK B., In Defence of Politics, Weidenfeld & Nickolson, London 1992.
  Google Scholar

CRONIN S., Irish Nationalism. A History of Its Roots and Ideology, The Academy Press, Dublin 1980.
  Google Scholar

DAVIES N., God’s Playground. A History of Poland, Volume I: The Origins to 1795, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1981.
  Google Scholar

DEMOCRACY: Democracy and Churchill, 2003, http://wais.stanford.edu/Democracy/democracy_DemocracyAndChurchill(090503).html (12.05.2013).
  Google Scholar

ENERGY in Depth – Update U.S. Shale is Undermining Russia’s Gas Monopoly, http://www.energyindepth.org/u-s-shale-is-undermining-russias-gas-monopoly/ (09.06.2013).
  Google Scholar

FERRO M., Historia kolonizacji, Volumen – Bellona, Warszawa 1997.
  Google Scholar

GSS Integrated Geophysics, How Yamal Geophysicists Found Oil in Paraguay, http://www.igseis.com/press-centre/media-publications/2012/12/16/how-yamal-geophysicists-found-oil-in-paraguay (02.06.2013).
  Google Scholar

HERBERG-ROTHE A., HONING J.W., MORAN D. (eds.), Clausewitz: The State and War, Franz Steiner Verlag, Sttutgart 2011.
  Google Scholar

HORTON S., The 1973 Oil Crisis by Sarah Horton. http://www.envirothonpa.org/documents/The1973OilCrisis.pdf (09.06.173).
  Google Scholar

Inspiring Quotes, http://www.inspiringwisdomquotes.com/quotes/angela-davis-what-this-country-needs-is-more-unemployed-politicians.149303.html (09.06.2013).
  Google Scholar

KACZOROWSKA M., Problemy narodowościowe w Wielkiej Brytanii – Szkocja, Walia, in: Problemy narodowościowe w Europie i ich wpływ na stosunki międzynarodowe na przełomie XX i XXI wieku, ed. Szczerbiński H., Wydawnictwo Wyższej Szkoły Cła i Logistyki, Warszawa 2009.
  Google Scholar

KENNEDY P.M., Mocarstwa świata. Narodziny – Rozkwit – Upadek. Przemiany gospodarcze i konflikty zbrojne w latach 1500-2000, Książka i Wiedza, Warszawa 1994.
  Google Scholar

KISSINGER H.A., Dyplomacja, Philip Wilson, Warszawa 1996.
  Google Scholar

KONARSKI W., 2009, Isolationism, Dependency and Clientelism as Traditional Features of the Paraguayan Foreign Policy, in: Politeja, no 2 (12), p. 277-298.
  Google Scholar

KOSSECKI A., W bałkańskim tyglu, Wyższa Szkoła Humanistyczna imienia Aleksandra Gieysztora, Pułtusk 2002.
  Google Scholar

LIETAER B., ARNSPERGER C., GOERNER S., BRUNNHUBER S., Money and Sustainability: The Missing Link, Triarchy Press, Axminster 2012.
  Google Scholar

MEADOWS D.H., RANDERS J., MEADOWS D.L., The Limits to Growth: The 30-year Update, Chelsea Green Publishing, White River Jct., Vermont 2004.
  Google Scholar

MOCZULSKI L., Geopolityka. Potęga w czasie i przestrzeni, Bellona, Warszawa 2000.
  Google Scholar

MROZIEWICZ R., RÓMMEL W., Armie w Ameryce Łacińskiej, MON, Warszawa 1973.
  Google Scholar

The New Indian Express, 2011, http://newindianexpress.com/magazine/voices/article227499.ece (12.05.2013).
  Google Scholar

New York Times, 1996, http://www.nytimes. com/1996/06/18/world/fitzroy-maclean-war-hero-and-author-is-dead-at-85.html (12.05.2013).
  Google Scholar

Nord Stream: A Commercial Project with a Political Vision, http://www.dw.de/nord-stream-a-commercial-project-with-a-political-vision/a-15508713 (09.06.2013).
  Google Scholar

Oct 17, 1973: OPEC states declare oil embargo, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/opec-states-declare-oil-embargo (09.06.2013).
  Google Scholar

OPEC Oil Embargo, 1973-1974, http://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/OPEC (09.06.2013).
  Google Scholar

OPIOŁA W., OMELAN G., 2012, Poland’s Energy Balance and Its Future. The Case Study with Gas as an Energy Source, in: Gospodarka – Rynek – Edukacja, vol. 13, no 4, p. 5-13.
  Google Scholar

PAWŁOWSKI L., 2012 Do the Liberal Capitalism and Globalization Enable the Implementation of Sustainable Development Strategy?, in: Problemy Ekorozwoju/Problems of Sustainable Development, vol. 7, no 2, p. 7-13.
  Google Scholar

RANDERS J., 2052 A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years, Chelsea Green Publishing, White River Jct., Vermont 2012.
  Google Scholar

RÓMMEL W., Argentyna, Książka i Wiedza, Warszawa 1972.
  Google Scholar

Russia/Ukraine: Gazprom Guarantees EU Energy Security with South Stream?, http://eastbook.eu/en/2012/11/material-en/news-en/gazprom-guarantees-eu-energy-security-with-south-stream/ (09.06.2013).
  Google Scholar

RYSZKA F., Polityka i wojna, Wiedza Powszechna, Warszawa 1975.
  Google Scholar

SNP, Scottish National Party. SNP & Bannockburn Branch Website, http://www.snpbannockburn.org/scotlands-oil.html (09.06.2013).
  Google Scholar

TARLE E., Dzieje Europy, 1871-1919, Książka i Wiedza, Warszawa 1960.
  Google Scholar

WHIST B.S., Nord Stream: Not Just a Pipeline. An Analysis of the Political Debates in the Baltic Sea Region Regarding the Planned Gas Pipeline from Russia to Germany, Fridtjof Nansen Institute (Report no 15), Lysaker 2008.
  Google Scholar

ZACHER L.W., MARINOVA D., 2007, Crises and Sustainablity or from Fear to Hope, in: Transformacje – An Interdisciplinary Journal – Special Issue on Crises and Sustainability 2005-2007, no 35-38, Wyższa Szkoła Przedsiębiorczości i Zarządzania im. Leona Koźmińskiego w Warszawie, p. 1-2.
  Google Scholar

ZACHER L.W., 2007, On Crises and Sustainability – Towards Crisisology, in: Transformacje – An Interdisciplinary Journal – Special Issue on Crises and Sustainability 2005-2007, no 35-38, p. 141-156.
  Google Scholar

ZAMOYSKI A., The Polish Way. A Thousand-year History of the Poles and their Culture, John Murray, London 1997.
  Google Scholar

Download


Published
2014-01-02

Cited by

Konarski, W. (2014). Mineral energy sources and political activities: introduction to mutual dependencies and their selected exemplification. Problemy Ekorozwoju, 9(1), 63–70. Retrieved from https://ph.pollub.pl/index.php/preko/article/view/4892

Authors

Wawrzyniec Konarski 

Institute of Intercultural Studies, Chair of Ethnocultural Politics, Jagiellonian University, 3 Gronostajowa Str., 30-387 Kraków Poland

Statistics

Abstract views: 9
PDF downloads: 4