The Politics of Energy in a Changing Climate

In many ways, everything once known about energy resources and technologies has been impacted by the long-standing scientific consensus on climate change and related support for renewable energy, the affordability of extraction of unconventional fuels, increasing demand for energy resources by middle- and low-income nations, new regional and global stakeholders, fossil fuel discoveries and emerging renewable technologies, awareness of (trans)local politics, and rising interest in corporate social responsibility and the need for energy justice. Research on these and related topics now appears frequently in social science academic journals, in broad-based journals, such as International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, and Review of International Political Economy, as well as those focused specifically on energy (e.g., Energy Research & Social Science and Energy Policy), the environment (Global Environmental Politics), natural resources (Resources Policy), and extractive industries (Extractive Industries and Society). The Oxford Handbook of Energy Politics synthesizes and aggregates this substantively diverse literature to provide insights into, and a foundation for teaching and research on, critical energy issues primarily in the areas of international relations and comparative politics. Its primary goals are to further develop the energy politics scholarship and community and generate sophisticated new work that will benefit a variety of scholars working on energy issues.

The Energy Politics of India

While it is not surprising that political factors shape the Indian energy landscape, few systematic attempts have been made to address exactly what interests most heavily influence energy choices and the precise nature of their impacts. Available research suggests that scholars need to move beyond simplistic explanations, such as lack of political will or capacity constraints, and recognize a broader set of interacting social, structural, institutional, and political agency variables. The technocratic analyses and projections based on simulation models that dominate the academic literature neglect political and social perspectives as unscientific, esoteric, or theoretical. Thus this chapter argues that future research should focus on political and economic power relations at the national, regional, and domestic levels when tracking poor outcomes of energy choices and policies. In the future, an emphasis on theoretically informed analysis will deepen understanding of hard choices related to the equitable distribution of energy in India and also facilitate implementation of more progressive energy policies.

Fossil Fuels

While experts agree that some fossil fuels will be left in the ground due to economic costs, environmental risks, or political concerns, these resources are likely to remain the primary source of energy for generating electricity, heating and cooling, and transportation for the foreseeable future. This chapter provides an overview of the different types of fossil fuels and their histories, production and consumption trends, and future opportunities and challenges for the fossil fuel sector. Its purpose is to provide a technical background for social scientists working on energy issues.

Nuclear Power

This chapter provides an overview of nuclear power around the world, the fundamentals of nuclear technology, and nuclear energy’s costs and benefits. Nuclear energy accounts for 10.6 percent of energy produced for electricity globally. Although a relatively small percentage of production, it has often been in the spotlight for its great potential, both good and bad. As of 2018, there were 451 operational commercial nuclear reactors globally and many more under construction. This chapter explores some of the key arguments made for and against nuclear energy and examines future areas of nuclear power development, including small modular reactors, advanced Generation IV reactor designs, and the expansion of non-electric applications, in light of the current state of nuclear power.

The Politics of Energy Regionalism

States have increasingly become linked through regional energy-related institutions, markets, infrastructure, and politics. ASEAN, EU, SADC, ECOWAS, Eurasian Union, NAFTA, and UNASUR, inter alia, have formal agreements and institutions covering energy. Renewable, nuclear, and fossil fuel energy sources, as well as pipelines and electricity grids, are all covered in the variety of regional formal and informal arrangements. In parallel, the scholarly body of literature on comparative regionalism is expanding, but generally without energy as a focus area. In a systematic review of eighty-six international relations and politics journals, this chapter finds fifty-two articles over a seventeen-year period linking regions and energy. While scholars are giving more attention to the empirics of energy regionalism, research now needs to turn to more systematic theory building along with comparisons between regions and across energy sources and infrastructure types. The chapter concludes with recommendations for a research agenda that focuses on three sets of questions about drivers, institutional design, and effects.

The Energy Politics of the European Union

Energy politics in the European Union is characterized by a combination of intergovernmental and supranational forms of governance. Scholars analyze the EU’s energy politics through the lenses of various theoretical approaches, with intergovernmental and neofunctional/supranational approaches dominating. The two approaches explain certain dynamics within the EU and the balance of power between Brussels and the member states. Energy policy is guided by the strategic energy triangle of sustainability, competitiveness, and energy security. The EU’s Energy Union marks a substantial shift: internally, to incorporate energy security as a primary objective together with sustainability and competitiveness; and externally, to use the EU’s economic weight and regulatory power in relation to external actors. Given its multilateral and rules-based character, the EU sui generis relies on a corresponding international environment and the liberal global order. The chapter concludes with suggestions for future research on EU governance to achieve its climate and energy targets, the role of the EU in the global energy landscape, and the impact of energy transformation.

The Energy Politics of the United States

This chapter examines the development and politics of US energy policy, with an emphasis on three themes: the distribution of authority to regulate energy between national (or federal) and subnational governments, the relationship between energy and environmental policy and regulation, and the role of climate action in energy politics. It reviews patterns of energy production and consumption; provides an overview of national energy politics; and reviews literatures on federalism and energy politics and policy, the increasing integration of energy and environmental policies, and the politics of energy and climate action. The chapter concludes with a discussion of a future research agenda that underscores the significance of political polarization, subnational governance, and technological innovation for understanding US energy policy.

Oil and Gas Infrastructure

Oil and gas infrastructure is vast and diverse, occupying an integral position in the global economy. Without such infrastructure, the majority of fuel needed to light, heat, and cool homes and businesses and to power transportation and industry cannot be produced and delivered to markets and consumers. In this sense, infrastructure is the lifeblood of the oil and gas industry. Oil and gas infrastructure encompasses a myriad of assets, including pipelines, drilling platforms, refineries, terminals, processing plants, and storage facilities, most of which are massive and expensive industrial complexes found in all corners of the world. Such assets can yield significant economic benefits, but they also present numerous challenges, not the least of which are operational, environmental, and political in nature.

The Energy Politics of South Africa

This chapter explores key processes within South Africa’s electricity sector that evolved under the presidency of Jacob Zuma from his inauguration in 2009 until he was forced out of office in early 2018. These processes include the introduction of a national planning process for electricity; the implementation of a procurement program for privately generated renewable electricity; and a highly controversial nuclear procurement program, since scrapped following Zuma’s departure. The chapter’s exploration takes place within the context of a decade of “state capture” and corruption. Drawing from a wide range of literature on South Africa’s energy policy, it advances perspectives of the “minerals-energy complex” (Fine and Rustomjee 1996), which has been a dominant framework for the analysis of the country’s political economy and its electricity sector. The chapter concludes with a research agenda that brings together the literature on sociotechnical transitions with that of analyses of the nature of the state.

Energy Politics

The Oxford Handbook of Energy Politics highlights the wide variety of literature, primarily by political scientists and international relations scholars, summarizing and analyzing research that intersects politics and energy issues, and provides an extensive and comprehensive set of research agendas. These chapters cover domestic politics of major energy producers and consumers as well as a variety of concepts and frameworks used in the social sciences, such as international organizations, regionalism, interdependence, justice, conflict and cooperation, and gender. Drawing on the preceding thirty chapters, this concluding chapter brings together common strands of the critical analyses and overlapping research agendas provided by the Handbook’s authors. While the Handbook documents an extensive body of research on energy politics, more theorizing, comparative analyses, generalizations, and diverse methodologies are needed.