International organizations and the commodification of natural resources, 1945-1975

What roles did international organizations play in the commodification of natural resources from 1945-1975, how and why? This research grant sketches out the range of institutions involved, their objectives, and the roles of private actors, whether businessmen or corporations operating at the porous borders of IOs. It will also track the changing status and significance of natural resources over this period.

It will pay specific attention to the significance of the following tensions in this history:

1. national versus international governance of natural resources;
2. commodification versus and preservation of natural resources; 
3. the interests of private business/corporate actors versus public objectives of international organizations. 

The critical period for this study is 1945 to 1975. This date range captures the post Second World War decades in which new UN-based international bodies prioritised development aims. While the parameters of those aims changed, they tended to concentrate on energy and production on large-scale industrialization models – at least until the Oil Shock of the early 1970s.

By positioning IOs as central actors in the post-Second World War history of natural resource commodification (as defined above) and its ongoing planetary consequences, this project adds substantial new data and analysis to our understanding of the history of natural resources, IOs, and corporate actors, and the politics of extractivism.