As you read for next week, please think about the relationship between states/governments having access to natural resources and the conditions of freedom and democracy. More specifically, do you think that having natural resources presents places with an opportunity or a curse?

Thea Riofrancos, “Shifting Mining From the Global South Misses the Point of Climate Justice,” Foreign Policy, February 7, 2022, https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/02/07/renewable-energy-transition-critical-minerals-mining-onshoring-lithium-evs-climate-justice/.

Alexander Sammon, “Ikea’s Race for the Last of Europe’s Old-Growth Forest,” The New Republic, February 16, 2022, https://newrepublic.com/article/165245/ikea-romania-europe-old-growth-forest