Oil, Globalization, and the War for the Arctic Refuge

David M. Standlea

Description

The global consumption of fossil fuels is dramatically rising, while inversely, the supply is in permanent decline. The "end of oil" threatens the very future of Western civilization. Oil, Globalization, and the War for the Arctic Refuge examines the politics of drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and presents this controversy as a precursor of future "resource wars" where ideas and values collide and polarize. The reader is introduced to the primary participants involved: global corporations, politicians, nongovernmental organizations, indigenous peoples and organizations, and human rights/religious organizations. Author David M. Standlea argues in favor of seeing this comparatively "local" conflict as part of a larger struggle between the proponents of an alternative, positive vision for the future and an American culture presently willing to sacrifice that future for immediate profit.

Acknowledgments

Part One: Oil and the Corporate State

1. Globalism, Oil, and the Power Elites

2. Background to Battle: The Thirty Years’ War

3. The Oil Companies: Legacies of Global Power

4. The Corporate State

5. The Culture of Corporate Spin

Part Two: Sustainability and Justice

6. The Environmentalists: Visions Under Siege

7. The Gwich’in: A Fight to the End

8. The Religious Community: Philosophers of ANWR

9. Prophets vs. Profits: Future Scenarios and Outcomes

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 16 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791482391
• Langue: English

Extrait

Oil, Globalization, and the War for the Arctic Refuge

David M. Standlea

Oil, Globalization, and the War for the Arctic Refuge

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Oil, Globalization, and the War for the Arctic Refuge

David M. Standlea

State University of New York Press

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2006 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 194 Washington Avenue, Suite 305, Albany, NY 122102384

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Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Standlea, David M., 1956– Oil, globalization, and the war for the arctic refuge / David M. Standlea. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0791466310 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 0791466329 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Petroleum industry and trade—Political aspects—United States. 2. Petroleum— Prospecting—Environmental aspects—Alaska—Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 3. Oil well drilling—Envrionmental aspects—Alaska—Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 4. Petroleum Industry and trade—Military aspects—United States. 5. Corporate state—United States. 6. Energy policy—United States. 7. United States—Politics and government—2001– 8. United States—Foreign relations—2001– I. Title.

HD9567.A4S72 2005 338.2'7282'0973—dc22

ISBN13: 9780791466315 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN13: 9780791466329 (pbk. : alk. paper)

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2005006025

For My Parents

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Preface Acknowledgments

Contents

Part 1: Oil and the Corporate State Chapter 1 Globalism, Oil, and the Power Elites Chapter 2 Background to Battle: The Thirty Years’ War Chapter 3 The Oil Companies: A Legacy of Global Power Chapter 4 The Corporate State Chapter 5 The Culture of Corporate Spin

Part 2: Sustainability and Justice Chapter 6 The Environmentalists: Visions under Siege Chapter 7 The Gwich’in: A Fight to the End Chapter 8 The Religious Community: Philosophers of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Chapter 9 Prophets vs. Profits: Future Scenarios and Outcomes

Notes Bibliography Index

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3 19 35 53 71

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159 173 195

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Preface

The study of political ecology and resource wars will intensify in the early decades of the twentyfirst century. Originally a subfield of academic geography, political ecology is now positioned upon the cusp of innovative interdisciplinary research encompassing diverse approaches in the humanities and social sciences. Global resource wars, interlocking environmental, social, and cultural conflict, global warming, overpopulation, and problems of growth and consumption are all multifaceted topics addressed by the interdisciplinary field of political ecology. One goal of this book is to explore new research dimensions in coin ciding areas of critical globalization studies and political ecology. Concen trated political economic power and the ideology of Americanled globalism now necessitate more than ever an application of political ecological knowl edge to globalization studies. Political ecology, in essence, is the study of how concentrated political economic power affects environmental, social, and cultural change at multiple spatial levels: the global, regional, and local. It is concerned with the twin themes of ecological sustainability and socio economic justice, and how these are manipulated and molded by topdown political power. The following narrative is but a case study, one depiction of a resource war landscape presently enveloping the globe. Raymond L. Bryant and Sinead Bailey produced a seminal work inThird World Political Ecology, outlining the major actors involved with resource and development conflicts in the Third World. Bryant contends that it is necessary to place each conflict within the context of the competing actors, whether they be local, regional, national, or external agents (e.g., a transnational corporation). The latter idea is crucial in a study of globalization, for the flow of outside financial and investment capital into local arenas makes it imperative to identify the external actors wielding the financial power. Bryant identifies the major players: transnational corporations; the mul tilateral economic institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and

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