Economic analysis of the interaction between natural resources and civil conflicts

The aim of this thesis is to determine the relationship between natural resources and the severity of civil conflicts during 1946-2002. According to the findings by using the pooled regression analysis the impact of natural resources on the severity of civil conflict differs according to the classification of natural resources as well as type of civil conflict. Our results have three main implications. First, renewable natural resources affect the severity of civil conflicts. According to the findings of our analysis tobacco production increases the severity of territory conflicts and coffee production increases the severity of governmental conflicts. However, maize production decreases the severity of secessionist conflicts. Second, minerals which cannot be used as a fuel affect the severity of civil conflicts. Our findings imply that diamond production decreases the severity of secessionist conflicts, while titanium production increases the severity of secessionist conflicts. Third, lootable natural resources affect the severity of civil conflicts. The results show that oil production decreases the severity of ethnic conflicts, but drug cultivation increases the severity of governmental conflicts. Our findings demonstrate the crucial importance of degradation of conflict types and natural resource types when analyzing the impact of natural resources on the severity of civil conflict. Keywords: Natural Resources, Civil Conflicts, Severity Of Civil Conflicts, Pooled OLS.