Producer politics: resource nationalism

Chapter 4 considers resource policies in the producer countries servicing Asian markets: Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, the Gulf States, Russia, the United States and the Central Asian republics. It identifies resource nationalism, a governmental strategy to exercise control over mining and energy industries, as one of the defining features of the global boom of the 2000s. It reviews emerging forms of resource nationalism, including state ownership, nationalisations, and restrictive trade and policies, to demonstrate the high levels of governmental control that characterise regional resource markets. These forms of resource nationalism are connected to the securitisation of resources, particularly regime security in authoritarian rentier states, industrialisation strategies in developing economies, and uncertain geopolitical environments. It is argued that resource nationalism has contributed to international conflict by exacerbating resource insecurity, preventing the integration of regional markets, and undermining governments’ commitment to trade and investment liberalisation.