Geography, Scarcity, & Conflict

    I support the existence of scarcity exists and the proposition that it will cause conflict. Competition over resources caused by scarcity will lead to conflict because of the basic need to survive. I believe geographic location affects the development of this conflict especially how it occurs and to what extent. I think the political, social, and economic situations present in areas affect the extent of the conflict.

     Scarcity in urban areas such as cities and their surrounding suburbs leads to conflict because of an inherent lack of accessibility to resources in these areas. City dwellers require resources such as food to be imported from outside putting citizens at disadvantage to access food crops and other necessities. If nation fails to produce enough crops during a harvest then food supply drops and a scarcity develops. Cities tend to exhibit large gaps in social inequality and this inequality often leads to unequal distribution. Unequal distribution results in individuals with better socio-economic status having easier access to food and larger quantities of it. On the other hand, conflict can ensue because individuals living in poverty cannot access the food and starvation forces them to take drastic measures. The extent of these conflicts can range from individuals using violence to obtain food, or large groups fighting against a government who cannot feed them. This also harps on strikes upon how the existence of political corruption exacerbates the scarcity and conflict. Corruption often leads to bribery, skimming of money and resources, and unequal distribution of resources. For example, think how much easier a political leader living in a Nigerian city, with a ten room mansion and a swimming pool, can afford food compared to an unemployed goldsmith living across the city live in a shack made of metal bars and a plastic tarp. Less extreme versions also exist in industrialized nations such as in urban areas of Baltimore where food deserts develop. Families are forced to rely on easily accessible unhealthy fast food because healthier food options are not in the immediate vicinity and are less accessible. I believe lack of available resources whether it is food, water, or money leads to scarcity and eventual conflict in urban environments. The social inequality, and political corruption in some nations, exacerbates the scarcity and resulting conflict.

     In rural areas, scarcity can be caused by a lack of resources, but it is more often caused by an abundance of them. In rural areas, especially those containing large reserves of resources such as precious metals, abundance of a resource can lead to scarcity of necessities amongst the inhabitants. Good intentioned political action such as policy prescriptions aim to limit the amount of resource captured in these areas and prevent abundant reserves from diminished too quickly. Unfortunately, these prescriptions limit the harvests so severely that individuals cannot survive they adhere to the prescribed limitations. For example, Lahitti-dutt mentions how inhabitants of rural villages located next to precious metal mines will illegally harvest these resources in order to earn their livelihood and survive. Resulting uncontrolled extraction of resources, such as diamonds, can lead to conflict as individuals seek to secure themselves by obtaining as much of the resource as possible. This tragedy of the commons leads to the conflict amongst various groups who seek to control the resources and the accompanying wealth. Terms such as blood diamonds develop because of the violence associated with conflict caused by the abundance of a resource. I disagree with Theissen and believe that an abundance of resource can increase scarcity of the resource and of the necessities funded by profit from resource. The scarcity leads to conflict between groups seeking to control the resource and secure their ability to survive, especially groups living in rural areas.

     The existence of scarcity in a society will cause conflict, and I believe that how the scarcity and conflict develop depend on the geographic region. Additionally, I believe that the social, political, and economic situations in these regions will affect how extreme the conflict can become.