1st Austrian Conference on International Resource Politics:

“Towards International Resource Fairness - Theories, Conflicts and Policies”

4 – 6 December 2014, Vienna

Natural resources have become a key issue in international politics. Competition for access to and control of natural resources has intensified, and so have conflicts over the distribution of benefits as well as over negative environmental and social impacts of exploration and production. In this context, the question arises of how to conceptualize “resource fairness”, i.e. how access to, distribution and use of natural resources can be organized in a way that takes into account the legitimate interests of all actors and institutions involved. In this context, far-reaching questions emerge with regard to the current modes of production and living.

The purpose of the conference is to analyze prevailing natural resource politics, policies and arrangements, as well as problems and conflicts associated with specific forms of resource extraction, production and consumption at various scales. The conference wants to bring together researchers from different disciplines and to combine theoretical inputs with concrete case studies on resource conflicts.

The conference will take place for the first time in December 2014 in Vienna and is organized by OeFSE together with the Department of Political Science at the University of Vienna and the Department of Geography of the University of Innsbruck.