Static Resources Relationship Theories and Their Criticism

　　Abstract: In recent decades, the debate over the relationship between resources and humankind has become increasingly contentious. Among participating scholars, two opposing schools have emerged. Resource pessimists maintain that natural resources are inherently limited and resource relations among humans are zero-sum games: one gains at the loss of another. For this reason, this group claims that resource scarcity heightens resource competitions, and incites conflicts and wars. Meanwhile, resource optimists argue from the other side of the coin. They claim that the resource relationship between humans is not zero-sum, and there are, in reality, far fewer resource conflicts than pessimists have claimed. To the optimists, natural resources are unlimited in supply. In times of pressing needs, humankind will naturally devote efforts at improving resource utilization, as well as to discover substitute resources. Despite their prevalence, these two resource theories share a common shortcoming: both are static theories; both fail to take fully into account the role of human beings in resource management, and assume that the relationships between human groups have no effect on the replaceability or irreplaceability of natural resources. This paper suggests using a dynamic resource relationship theory to better explains resource relations.