This POLINARES project will examine how tension and conflict may undermine future global peace and economic development, and to explore new modes of behaviour which promote an appropriate balance between competition and collaboration.

The project sets out to take a global view of challenges, rather than focus on those specifically relating to the EU. This approach is justified by the increasing interdependence of the world's nations in the context of energy and minerals. A problem facing one party has the potential to affect other parties, however distant. Likewise the proposed solutions will be directed at those choices which are collaborative, because the scale and nature of the challenges are such that unilateral solutions are unlikely to be effective in the long-run. Specific proposals will be made as to how the EU can participate in the formulation and implementation of policy proposals.

The objectives of the project are:

• To identify the main global challenges relating to competition for access to oil, gas and mineral resources;
• To propose new approaches to collaborative solutions for the various policy actors, including the EU;
• To disseminate widely the results of this research.

To achieve these policy objectives, the POLINARES project is directed at meeting the following research objectives:

• To develop a better understanding of how global interactions and interdependencies relating to oil, gas and minerals have been changing and are likely to change, how they relate to the development trajectories of different parts of the world, and what their implications are for global economic, social, institutional and security relations.
• To identify principles which can underpin the development of new policies, new policy-making processes, and new networking systems which, in turn, can assist in promoting an appropriate balance between competition and collaboration with respect to access to oil, gas and minerals in a manner which minimises conflict and promotes sustainable economic development.

POLINARES Workpackage Structure