Vol. 50 No. 201 (2020): The Political Economy of War

"Peace dividend" - this was a promising promise after 1990, following the end of the Cold War. But already at the turn of the millennium an era of "new wars" was proclaimed: These were unconventional conflicts in which various local civil war parties sought to assert themselves by force. But this form of war is not really new, nor do economic and military superpowers have nothing to do with it - on the contrary. The classic case is the Syrian war, which has been going on for almost a decade. Foreign actors are concerned with geopolitical and ideological interests or prestige before their own electorate - but access to natural gas and oil is a key issue. Such wars have been going on for centuries, but they have recently led to resource-rich countries often suffering from a "resource curse". In addition, PROKLA discusses militarisation itself as a field of business for relevant companies, thus fanning out the various dimensions of the political economy of war.