Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Energy security and shifting modes of governance

  • Original Article
  • Published:
International Politics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The concept of energy security fits uneasily into contemporary security debates. It is neither a clearly traditional nor a fully ‘non-traditional’ security issue. There are also limits to the social constructedness of the concept. This article argues that, while it is important to identify the differing securitizations of energy, these must be contextualized within the material realities and the differing historical modes of governance of the political economy of resources. This is essential for understanding the differing meanings accorded to energy security, the shifting modes through which energy is governed, and the extent to which energy security concerns drive international politics. In this context, contemporary concerns over energy security have both material and ideological dimensions: anxiety over the dual shift of power from West to East and from resource-importing to resource-exporting countries; and concern over the normative weakening of the neo-liberal mode of energy governance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aissaoui, A. (2001) Algeria: The Political Economy of Oil and Gas. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrews-Speed, P. and Dannreuther, R. (2011) China, Oil and Global Politics. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baumann, F. (2008) Energy security as a multidimensional concept. Centre for Applied Policy Research: Policy Analysis 1: 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bebbington, A., Bebbington, D.H., Bury, J., Lingan, J., Munoz, J.P. and Scurrah, M. (2008) Mining and social movements: Struggle over livelihoods and rural territorial development in the Andes. World Development 26 (12): 2888–2905.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bremmer, I. (2009) State capitalism comes of age: The end of the free market? Foreign Affairs 88 (3): 40–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bremmer, I. (2011) The return of state capitalism. Survival 50 (3): 55–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bremmer, I. and Johnston, R. (2010) The rise and fall of resource nationalism. Survival 51 (2): 149–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bridge, G. (2008) Global production networks and the extractive sector: Governing resource-based development. Journal of Economic Geography 8 (3): 389–419.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bridge, G. and Le Billon, P. (2013) Oil. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bromley, S. (2005) The United States and control of world oil. Government and Opposition 40 (2): 225–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buzan, B., de Wilde, J. and Wæver, O. (1998) Security: A New Framework for Analysis. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, M.E. and Jaffe, A.M. (2007) Energy security and national oil companies. The Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations 8 (1): 9–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cherp, A. and Jewell, J. (2011) The three perspectives on energy security: Intellectual history, the disciplinary roots and the potential for integration. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 3 (4): 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Churchill, R.S. (1968) Winston Churchill: Young Statesman, 1901–1914. London: Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colgan, J.D., Keohane, R.O. and Van de Graaf, T. (2012) Punctuated equilibrium in the energy regime complex. Review of International Organizations 7 (2): 117–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dannreuther, R. (2010) Energy security. In: J.P. Burgess (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of New Security Studies. London: Routledge, pp. 144–153.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dannreuther, R. and Ostrowski, W. (eds.) (2013) Global Resources: Conflict and Cooperation. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • De Graaff, N. (2012) The rise of non-Western national oil companies: Transformation of the neoliberal global energy order. In: H. Overbeek and B. van Apeldoon (eds.) Neoliberalism in Crisis. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 161–178.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Dietsche, E. (2013) Sector legal frameworks and resource property rights. In: R. Dannreuther and W. Ostrowski (eds.) Global Resources: Conflict and Cooperation. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eley, G. (2002) Forging Democracy: The History of the Left in Europe, 1850–2000. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, T.L. (2006) The first law of petropolitics. Foreign Policy 154: 28–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldman, M. (2008) Oilopoly: Putin, Power and the Rise of the New Russia. Oxford: Oneworld Book.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldthau, A. and Witte, J.M. (2009) Back to the future of forward to the past? Strengthening markets and rules for effective global energy governance. International Affairs 85 (2): 373–390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gustafson, T. (2012) Wheel of Fortune: The Battle for Oil and Power in Russia. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hahn, G. (2004) Managed democracy? Building stealth authoritarianism in St Petersburg. Demokratizatsiya 12 (2): 195–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hinnebusch, R. (2003) The International Politics of the Middle East. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ikenberry, G.J. (2012) The Liberal Leviathan: The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of American World Order. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaffe, A.M. and Manning, R.A. (2000) The shocks of a world of cheap oil. Foreign Affairs 79 (1): 16–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karl, T.L. (1997) The Paradox of Plenty: Oil Booms and Petro-states. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kessler, G. (2005) US says China must address its intentions: How its power is used is of concern. Washington Post 22 September.

  • Kissinger, H. (1982) Years of Upheaval. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klare, M.T. (2001) Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict. New York: Henry Holt.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klare, M.T. (2004) Blood and Oil: The Dangers of America’s Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum. New York: Metropolitan Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lanteigne, M. (2008) China’s maratime security and the ‘Malacca Dilemma’. Asian Security 4 (2): 143–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, B., Preston, F., Korooshy, J., Bailey, B. and Lahn, G. (2012) Resource Futures: A Chatham House Report. London: Royal Institute of International Affairs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luciani, G. (2013) Corporations vs. states in the shaping of global oil regimes. In: R. Dannreuther and W. Ostrwoski (eds.) Global Resources: Conflict and Cooperation. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luong, P.J. and Weinthal, E. (2010) Oil Is Not a Curse: Ownership Structure and Institutions in Soviet Successor States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Marcel, V. (2006) Oil Titans: National Oil Companies in the Middle East. London: Royal Institute of International Affairs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, T. (2009) Carbon democracy. Economy and Society 38 (3): 399–432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, T. (2011) Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Modi, V., McDade, S., Lallement, D. and Saghir, J. (2005) Energy Services for the Millennium Development Goals. Washington DC: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/ The World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moran, T.H. (1998) Foreign Direct Investment and Development: The New Policy Agenda for Developing Countries and Economies in Transition. Washington DC: Institute for International Economics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morse, E.L. (1999) A new political economy of oil? Journal of International Affairs 53 (1): 1–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pachauri, S. (2010) The energy poverty dimension of energy security. In: B.K. Sovacool (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Energy Security. London: Routledge, pp. 191–205.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parra, F. (2010) Oil Politics: A Modern History of Petroleum. London: I. B. Tauris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Podobnik, B. (2006) Global Energy Shifts: Fostering Sustainability in a Turbulent Age. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramamurti, R. (2001) The obsolescing ‘bargaining model’? MNC-host developing country relations revisited. Journal of International Business Studies 32 (1): 23–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ross, M.L. (2012) The Oil Curse: How Petroleum Wealth Shapes the Development of Nations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutland, P. (2008) Russia as an energy superpower. New Political Economy 13 (2): 203–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, M. (2005) Volatile coal prices reflect suppy, demand uncertainties. Platt’s Insights Magazine 30 (March): 10–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sachs, J.D. and Warner, A.M. (2001) Natural resources and economic development: The curse of natural resources. European Economic Review 45 (4–6): 827–838.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seymour, I. (1980) OPEC: Instrument of Change. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Smil, V. (2005) Energy at the Crossroads: Global Perspectives and Uncertainties. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sovacool, B.K. (ed.) (2011) The Routledge Handbook of Energy Security. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevens, P. (2013) The history of the international oil industry. In: R. Dannreuther and W. Ostrowski (eds.) Global Resources: Conflict and Cooperation. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stirling, A. (2010) The diversification dimension of energy security. In: B.K. Sovacool (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Energy Security. London: Routledge, pp. 146–175.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stokes, D. and Raphael, S. (2010) Global Energy Security and American Hegemony. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van de Graaf, T. (2012) Obsolete or resurgent? The international energy agency in a changing global landscape. Energy Policy 48: 233–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van de Graaf, T. (2013) Fragmentation in global energy governance: Explaining the creation of IRENA. Global Environmental Politics 13 (3): 14–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vernon, R. (1971) Sovereignty at Bay: The Multinational Spread of US Enterprises. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vivoda, V. (2009) Resource nationalism, bargaining and international oil companies: Challanges and change in the millennium. New Political Economy 14 (4): 517–534.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wallace, W. and England, A. (2013) South Africa: A failed rainbow. Financial Times 18 February.

  • World Bank (2000) Energy Services for the World's Poor. Washington DC: World Bank.

  • World Energy Council (1999) The Challenge of Rural Energy Poverty in Developing Countries. London: World Energy Council.

  • Yergin, D. (1991) The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power. New York: Simon and Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yergin, D. (2011) The Quest: Energy, Security and the Remaking of the Modern World. London: Allen Lane.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yu, B. (2003) China–Russia relations: Russia-Chinese oil politik. Comparative Connections 5 (3): 137–146.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London, W1B 2HW, UK

    Roland Dannreuther

Authors
  1. Roland Dannreuther
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

This article was initially presented at the Workshop on Political Economy, State Transformation and the New Security Agenda at Queen Mary University of London, 7–8 March 2013.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Dannreuther, R. Energy security and shifting modes of governance. Int Polit 52, 466–483 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1057/ip.2015.4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ip.2015.4

Keywords

Search

Navigation