This sobering look at the future of warfare predicts that conflicts will now be fought over diminishing supplies of our most precious natural resources.

From the barren oilfields of Central Asia to the lush Nile delta, from the busy shipping lanes of the South China Sea to the uranium mines and diamond fields of sub-Saharan Africa, Resource Wars looks at the growing impact of resource scarcity on the military policies of nations. International security expert Michael T. Klare argues that in the early decades of the new millennium wars will be fought not over ideology but over resources, as states battle to control dwindling supplies of precious natural commodities. The political divisions of the Cold War, Klare asserts, are giving way to an immense global scramble for essential materials, such as oil, timber, minerals, and water. And as armies throughout the world define resource security as their primary mission, widespread instability is bound to follow, especially in those places where resource competition overlaps with long-standing disputes over territorial rights.

A much-needed assessment of a changed world, Resource Wars is a compelling look at the future of warfare in an era of heightened environmental stress and accelerated economic competition.

Michael T. Klare is director of the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies in Amherst, Massachusetts, and author of numerous books on the changing nature of warfare, including Low-Intensity Warfare, Word Security, and Rogue States and Nuclear Outlaws. He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.