Natural resource exploitation in Western Sahara: new research directions

Abstract

This review article provides an overview of research to date with an explicit focus on natural resource exploitation in Western Sahara. It integrates findings from various perspectives and disciplines, and synthesises the research done with a view to revealing gaps and, therefore, potential new research directions. As the issue of natural resource exploitation in Western Sahara has been conceptualised in very different ways and from the perspectives of a variety of disciplines, the authors have opted for a semi-systematic review of the work done encompassing academic, non-academic, and activist backgrounds.

When rebels govern oil

“…The French oil giant Total abandoned exploration projects in the disputed areas. The EU withdrew from maritime agreements which could have provided tacit confirmation to Moroccan claims to the offshore oil fields (Allan and Ojeda-García, 2021;Campos, 2008;Kamal, 2015). Numerous foreign firms refused to transport or trade resources from Western Sahara for fear of legal action (Fernández-Molina and Ojeda-García, 2020;Hagen, 2015).…”