For decades, studies of oil-related conflicts have focused on the effects of natural resource mismanagement, resulting in great economic booms and busts or violence as rebels fight ruling governments over their regions' hydrocarbon resources. In Oil Sparks in the Amazon, Patricia I. Vasquez writes that while oil busts and civil wars are common, the tension over oil in the Amazon has played out differently, in a way inextricable from the region itself. Oil disputes in the Amazon primarily involve local indigenous populations. These groups' social and cultural identities differ from the rest of the population, and the diverse disputes over land, displacement, water contamination, jobs, and wealth distribution reflect those differences. Vasquez spent fifteen years traveling to the oilproducing regions of Latin America, conducting hundreds of interviews with the stakeholders in local conflicts. She analyzes fifty-five social and environmental clashes related to oil and gas extraction in the Andean countries (Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia). She also examines what triggers local hydrocarbons disputes and offers policy recommendations to resolve or prevent them. Vasquez argues that each case should be analyzed with attention to its specific sociopolitical and economic context. She shows how the key to preventing disputes that lead to local conflicts is to address structural flaws (such as poor governance and inadequate legal systems) and nonstructural flaws (such as stakeholders' attitudes and behavior) at the outset. Doing this will require more than strong political commitments to ensure the equitable distribution of oil and gas revenues. It will require attention to the local values and culture as well.

For decades, studies of oil-related conflicts have focused on the effects of natural resource mismanagement, resulting in great economic booms and busts or violence as rebels fight ruling governments over their regions' hydrocarbon resources. In Oil Sparks in the Amazon, Patricia I. Vasquez writes that while oil busts and civil wars are common, the tension over oil in the Amazon has played out differently, in a way inextricable from the region itself. Oil disputes in the Amazon primarily involve local indigenous populations. These groups' social and cultural identities differ from the rest of the population, and the diverse disputes over land, displacement, water contamination, jobs, and wealth distribution reflect those differences. Vasquez spent fifteen years traveling to the oilproducing regions of Latin America, conducting hundreds of interviews with the stakeholders in local conflicts. She analyzes fifty-five social and environmental clashes related to oil and gas extraction in the Andean countries (Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia). She also examines what triggers local hydrocarbons disputes and offers policy recommendations to resolve or prevent them. Vasquez argues that each case should be analyzed with attention to its specific sociopolitical and economic context. She shows how the key to preventing disputes that lead to local conflicts is to address structural flaws (such as poor governance and inadequate legal systems) and nonstructural flaws (such as stakeholders' attitudes and behavior) at the outset. Doing this will require more than strong political commitments to ensure the equitable distribution of oil and gas revenues. It will require attention to the local values and culture as well.

This book is the most updated and comprehensive look at efforts to protect the Amazon, home to half of the world’s remaining tropical forests. In the past five years, the Basin’s countries have become the cutting edge of environmental enforcement through formation of constitutional protections, military operations, stringent laws, police forces, judicial procedures and societal efforts that together break through barriers that have long restrained decisive action. Even such advances, though, struggle to curb devastation by oil extraction, mining, logging, dams, pollution, and other forms of ecocide. In every country, environmental protection is crippled by politics, bureaucracy, unclear laws, untrained officials, small budgets, regional rivalries, inter-ministerial competition, collusion with criminals, and the global demand for oils and minerals. Countries are better at creating environmental agencies, that is, than making sure that they work. This book explains why, with country studies written by those on the front lines—from national enforcement directors to biologists and activists.

This edited volume examines the impacts of the 2014-2015 decline in the price of oil. Participants will examine the economic, social and political consequences on states and regions, along with their responses. The following questions will be examined: what were the impacts for countries experiencing an energy revolution in shale and gas like the United States and Canada? What were the repercussions of the collapse on other states of the Western hemisphere dependent on oil for growth and development; countries like Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico? Were these outcomes similar to those experiences in other parts of world like Nigeria, Russia and other petro-producing countries? How do developing countries intend to cope with such drastic and sudden exogenous economic shock? Will there be any benefits for energy poor, consumer countries like China, India and European Union member states? Related to these issues are sustainable developmental questions and concerns about the environment. Will cheap oil force other alternative and renewable energy technologies out of the market given lack of competitiveness? Finally, the volume’s chapters will discuss prospects for governance in the new oil environment.

This book focuses on corporate social responsibility (CSR) records of Chinese oil investments in five Latin American countries: Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Colombia, and Venezuela. These investments have been spearheaded by China’s national oil companies and their behavior has been scantly studied. The author uses comparative case studies to empirically examine existing theories of CSR. By using oil companies as the basic unit of analysis, this project adds a micro-level dimension to the field of China-Latin America relationship. It is ideal for audiences interested in the political economy of the oil industry, China, Latin America, and corporate social responsibility.

The development of Africa’s oil has greatly accelerated in recent years, with some countries looking at the prospect of almost unimaginable flows of money into their national budgets. But the story of African oil has usually been associated with conflict, corruption and disaster, with older producers such as Nigeria having little to show for the many billions of dollars they’ve earned. In this eye-opening book, former BBC correspondent Celeste Hicks questions the inevitability of the so-called resource curse, revealing what the discovery of oil means for ordinary Africans, and how China’s involvement could mean a profound change in Africa’s relationship with the West. A much-needed account of an issue that will likely transform the fortunes of a number of African countries – for better or for worse.

Markets and Conflict: Economics of War and Peace explores the causes, impacts, and linkages of contemporary geopolitics, markets, and conflict along with their economic impacts on all stakeholders. It compiles the most current research and insights about market behaviours during conflicts of different types and severity, detailing how markets actually respond and what readers can do to implement a proactive early-response strategy. Today's international "order" is one characterized by instability and pervasive danger. Russia's invasion of Ukraine, escalating tension over the status of Taiwan, frozen and active civil wars across dozens of countries, and continued turmoil in the Middle East, including in Syria, Yemen, and Israel, are only some examples of ongoing or potential conflicts. Major and minor armed conflicts flare up or threaten to do so on a continual basis. Market responses to this instability are often irrational and shortsighted. Fear induces volatility in markets, based on panicked efforts to protect individual interests. Markets and Conflict: Economics of War and Peace presents a comprehensive understanding of conflict and market dynamics to enable market participants to make informed judgments. Additionally, it provides lessons related to macro-level dynamics useful to governments and policy analysts. - Compiles and analyzes extant literature on how confl ict and markets interact - Offers strategies to ease or prevent the effects of confl ict - Utilizes a well-structured, clearly written, comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach - Presents self-contained chapters each with conceptual overviews and defi nitions