Resource Conflicts: Emerging Struggles over Strategic Commodities in Latin America Phase II

Abstract

"The efficiency and success of U.S. security initiatives in Latin America requires a thorough understanding of resource conflict and the state's role in managing it. International investments in mining and hydrocarbons in the Central Andes could potentially affect U.S. economic influence in those countries and have real implications for U.S. security presence relative to other world powers. Resource conflict makes it hard for the U.S. government to monitor extraction and production of strategic materials that are critical for the U.S. government to meet its defense needs and to achieve a favorable balance of power vis-Ã -vis other world powers through control over these commodities. This report examines how the regulations that structure the process of local community consultation affect the mining sector in Peru and the hydrocarbon extraction sector in Bolivia. By identifying commonalities in resource conflicts and analyzing how subnational institutions can predict the condition under which conflict arises, this research serves as a first stage in predicting, preempting, and resolving conflict more effectively. The findings in this report should matter to those concerned with the mechanisms by which new projects are reviewed and approved, including the degree to which a project's environmental and social impacts are anticipated and evaluated."