Inequality built in: geopolitics and the systemic impact of unequal resource distribution

Samuel R. Schubert

Chapter 11 in Elgar Companion on Inequality and Natural Resources, 2026, pp 236-262 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The unequal global distribution of natural resources, historically essential to the evolution of power, power transition, and war, significantly influences international power dynamics. This chapter introduces Supply Availability for Power Projection (SAPP), emphasizing state strategies for securing, processing, and utilizing resources—particularly energy resources, critical minerals, rare earths, and materials essential for electrified economies and advanced military technologies—as instruments of geopolitical influence. Drawing on international relations theories, it maps resource distributions and their role in creating strategic chokepoints, vulnerabilities, and leverage. The analysis highlights states’ preferences for distant resources to diversify geopolitical risks. Geopolitical profiles of major powers such as the US, China, Russia, the EU, India, and South America's Lithium Triangle illustrate how competition over resource control shapes international alignments and tensions. Finally, the chapter examines how technological innovation, climate change, shifting supply chains, and new frontiers are reshaping future geopolitical competition.

Keywords: Geopolitics; Energy; Rare Earth Elements; Power; Realism; Resource Inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035327362
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