Abstract

Building Blocs: Raw Materials and the Global Economy in the Age of Disequilibrium

“Building Blocs” centers strategic minerals in a global history of trade, finance, and geopolitics between the World Wars. Minerals were key components of the interwar "raw materials problem," which stemmed from the uneven distribution of, and access to, the world's resources. Modern industry required steady supplies of tungsten, manganese, and chrome for steel and military production, but none of the industrialized powers possessed domestic deposits. Drawing on the archives of states, corporations, banks, and international organizations, I show how entangled business and state interests pushed alternative solutions to multilateralism, carving out spheres of influence as international cooperation disintegrated. I argue that rivalries and anxieties generated by resource interdependence not only drove the creation of interwar trading blocs, but also shaped the forms and structures of post-1945 geopolitical entities and international institutions.