Market power politics, critical minerals, and conflict: Presidential address at the 2025 annual meeting of the peace science society, international

This Presidential Address celebrates the field of Peace Science by illustrating how our research can help us understand some of the major crises unfolding in world politics today. Using the lens of market power politics, I demonstrate how states are navigating the political challenges of China's market power over critical minerals, including cobalt, lithium, nickel, and the rare earths. I then show how market power politics are fueling violence in the civil war in Sudan and prolonging the war between Ukraine and Russia. I finish with a recognition of the intellectual value of diversity in the study of peace science.