THE GEOPOLITICS OF CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS: Sovereignty, Power Politics, and Europe's Strategic Autonomy

The 20th century was shaped by those who controlled oil. The 21st will be shaped by those who control the value chains of clean technologies. These chains begin in the mines.Lithium, cobalt, rare earths, gallium, germanium - the invisible foundations of 21st-century technological civilisation. Almost without exception, these are concentrated in the hands of China, which has established vertically integrated dominance over their value chains over the past thirty years.This book is the first comprehensive German-language analysis of the geopolitics of critical raw materials as a factor in power dynamics. It shows that the energy transition creates more profound dependencies than it eliminates.Across thirteen chapters, the author analyses the strategies of China, the US and the EU, assesses the Critical Raw Materials Act 2024 and develops three prospective scenarios for the period up to 2035-2040.Europe has all the means at its disposal to reduce its vulnerabilities. The only missing variable is the political will.