Julie Klinger

Julie Klinger is an Associate Professor of International Relations at Boston University’s Pardee School of Global Studies.

Klinger specializes in development, environment, and security politics in Latin America and China in comparative and global perspective.

She is currently completing a book project on the global geography of rare earth prospecting and mining, with a special emphasis on the development and geopolitics of resource frontiers in Brazil, China, and Outer Space.  China currently accounts for 80% of global rare earth production, but that is changing. Much of the literature suggests that China’s virtual monopoly is the outcome of geological determinism, and the quest to mine these resources in the Brazilian Amazon and on the Moon is due to their absolute rarity. But contrary to much of the conventional wisdom underpinning contemporary global rare earth politics, these elements are neither rare, nor so dispersed that they can only be found on the Mongolian steppe, the Brazilian Amazon, or indeed, on ‘Earth’s offshore island.’

As a geographer, Dr. Klinger’s research emphasizes in-depth fieldwork to examine the processes through which resource frontiers are produced at local and global scales. She has worked extensively in rural and frontier regions in Brazil and China over the past decade to examine the gaps between (inter)national policy and local practice. She is committed to fostering international research collaboration.

Her recent publications include: “A historical geography of rare earth elements: From discovery to the atomic age.”  The Extractive Industries and Society 2, No. 3:  572 – 580. “The environment-security nexus in contemporary rare earth politics.”In The Political Economy of Rare Earth Elements:  Rising Powers and Technological Change, edited by Ryan David Kiggins, 133 – 155. London: Palgrave Macmillan. “Knowledge brokerage for impact assessment of land use scenarios in Inner Mongolia, China: Extending and testing the FoPIA approach.” Sustainability 7, No. 5: 5027 – 5049.