Geopolitics of Greed: Resource Competition and the Erosion of Global Cooperation and Responsibilities

Abstract

The twenty-first century has witnessed intensifying global competition over vital resources like energy, water, food, and critical minerals- driven by strategic rivalry, economic nationalism, and technological transitions. This paper argues that a politics of narrow self-interest or “geopolitics of greed” increasingly shapes state behaviour, and that this resource competition erodes the foundations of global cooperation and shared responsibility. Drawing on realist and institutionalist perspectives, and illustrated with contemporary empirical cases (critical minerals and the energy transition, vaccine nationalism during COVID-19, transboundary water stress, and food-energy shocks), the paper analyses mechanisms by which resource competition transforms cooperation into contestation. It then examines the systemic costs of such dynamics- institutional erosion, inequitable outcomes, amplified crises, and fragmentation of global governance- and proposes policy pathways to restore cooperative capacity: diversifying supply chains, strengthening multilateral frameworks for common-pool resources, designing equitable crisis-sharing mechanisms, and fostering normative shifts toward responsible interdependence. The paper concludes that restoring durable cooperation will require both technical remedies and political will to re-embed responsibility in the governance of shared resources.