Natural Resources and the State

Natural Resources and the State: The Political Economy of Resource Management by Oran R. Young investigates how governments shape the use, transfer, and regulation of natural resources, situating these choices within broader theories of the state. Young examines the tension between devolution of public lands, direct state operation, and regulatory regimes, grounding the discussion in detailed U.S. case studies: the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the Fur Seal Act, and the Fishery Conservation and Management Act. These examples reveal how the state can act as landlord, operator, or regulator, each role carrying profound political and economic consequences. By tracing how these policies were negotiated, implemented, and contested, the book illuminates the interplay of bureaucracy, law, indigenous rights, and international agreements in shaping resource governance.

Far from being abstract theorizing, Young’s work is anchored in the concrete experience of Alaska and the far North, where questions of sovereignty, environmental stewardship, and economic development converge. His analysis critiques both the limits of neoclassical economic approaches to resource allocation and the idealized assumptions of ecological perspectives, insisting on attention to the messy realities of state action. The book advances a compelling argument that unforeseen consequences—whether in destabilizing village life or creating regulatory vacuums—are endemic to resource policy. For scholars of political economy, environmental policy, and Arctic studies, Natural Resources and the State offers both a framework and a cautionary tale about the power and limits of states in managing the natural foundations of modern life.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1981.