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Michael Klare

Professor & Director of PAWSS, The Five Colleges

Michael T. Klare is the Five College Professor of Peace and World Security Studies (a joint appointment at Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst), and Director of the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies (PAWSS), a position he has held since 1985. Before assuming his present post, he served as Director of the Program on Militarism and Disarmament at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. (1977-84).

Professor Klare has written widely on U.S. defense policy, the arms trade, and world security affairs. He is the author of Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America’s Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum (Metropolitan Books, 2004), along with many other books. He is also the defense correspondent of The Nation, a Contributing Editor of Current History, and has contrbuted to numerous publications.

Michael Klare serves on the board of directors of the Arms Control Association, and the advisory board of the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch; he is also a member of the Committee on International Security Studies of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Is Access to Natural Resources a Human Right?

Access to water is a human right, Klare says. Access to a gas-guzzling SUV isn’t.

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What will a $120 barrel of oil mean for the U.S. economy?

The first things to go will be summer vacations and air travel.

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What will it take to trigger an oil crisis?

We are in the midst of one already, Klare says.

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Which alternative energy source is the best?

Klare is intrigued by solar energy but says that we are still far from making it an economically feasible alternative.

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Re: Which will we run out of first: oil or water?

And which problem is more easily fixed?

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Oil and the 2008 Election

There will be no oil man in the White House come 2009. What does that mean for American oil companies?

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Re: Could we go to war with Iran for its oil?

Vice President Cheney, Klare says, is laying the groundwork as we speak.

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Did we go to Iraq for oil?

And if we did, is that okay?

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Would it be wise for a country to tap into its oil reserves?

Once the reserves are gone, they’re gone forever, says Klare.

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Will power shift from big oil producers to smaller ones?

Many experts doubt the ability of Saudi Arabia to increase its output, Klare says.

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Where are the new oil booms?

There aren’t too many of them left, Klare says.

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India and China’s Energy Policies

What if everyone in China got a car?

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Why is energy independence a dangerous delusion?

We are more reliant on petroleum than any industrialized country.

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America’s Energy Policy

Are we doing anything right?

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How is the race for resources changing the global order?

The demand is booming but the amount of available resources are shrinking rapidly.

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Which is More Likely: Oil Wars or Water Wars?

Water wars will be more widespread than wars over oil, which will involve the big geopolitical players.

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Will resource wars look any different?

The lead-up to future wars will resemble WWI, Klare says.

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Flashpoint: Central Asia

Geopolitical jockeying for oil, gas and uranium will cause friction here, Klare says.

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The Coming Resource Wars

Will we see more wars over resources? Where will they happen?

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