Chad Lawhorn | 03/08/2023
Book Review- Roland Dannreuther's Energy Security
Introduction
Energy security is an expansive area of study; the depth of the topic is more significant than perhaps most realize. It impacts our lives in far more ways than just whether we have enough energy to charge our iPhones and the cost of gas at the pump. Dr. Dannreuther's "Energy Security" draws our attention to the complexity of energy security and how international dynamics impact energy security domestically. Energy security is intertwined with national security, international relations, environmental degradation and conservation, and global economics.
The author does not set out to be political; his direction is not ideological—this book is a pure analysis of environmental realities and energy economics. He explains the nature of energy interests while addressing climate change and energy policies.
Frameworks and Definitions
The author explores the topic's analytical and theoretical framework, helping to establish the scale of the subject, which is, in reality, a mosaic of theories, policy issues, practices, and challenges. He repeatedly draws our attention back to the "multi-dimensional" nature of the energy security topic and how this invites great difficulty when attempting to organize and formulate an all-encompassing definition. His remedy to this difficulty is to frame energy security into various categories and topics, each with a distinct interpretation of the meaning of energy security.
Dr. Dannreuther explains that what energy security is and how it is viewed differs depending on context and school of thought. Energy security could be viewed through the lens of traditional social concerns, defense, and the climate. He addresses balancing global energy needs and combating the likely catastrophic threat of human-driven climate shifts. Here, we have an overlap of environmental concerns and national security. In this case, global and domestic security threats do not come from any single human/state actor but humanity as a whole through our industrialization.
This book explores how energy security becomes more complex when addressing specific commodities and the costs of extraction, production, transportation, and distribution. The book merges energy security topics with global and domestic economics discussions.
The author highlights energy security as an intersection of many concepts, from the physical and specific geographic nature of energy commodities to how markets, history, and politics define how we think of and approach energy security. Political ideologies and schools of thought shape how we understand energy security, how policy is implemented, and how energy crises are navigated. These political factors could impact how a state develops renewables, nuclear energy, or fossil fuels and how they behave in international markets.
Geopolitics
Dr. Dannreuther can connect energy politics, international relations, and global economics through case studies involving China and Russia and instability in oil-rich regions. He draws our attention to the physical nature of energy resources and how these resources that we all rely on are not necessarily accessible to every state. Energy resources are often concentrated in specific geographical locations. This reality complicates energy security. Some of these resources are in regions prone to conflicts that have, at times, disrupted the flow of those physical resources to markets and, in return, impacted the prices of those commodities. Other deposits exist under the control of states such as Russia, which are willing to use energy as a weapon. This impacts the national security of the countries that depend on these resources the most and disrupts global economics. This explores how resource-rich states affect global power dynamics due to the influence that comes with those resources, with the caveat that those states have the means to benefit from such potential "blessings."
Economics
The author points to historical examples of how a state's resource-rich existence may present a "curse" that negatively impacts its ability to invest in anything but industries related to those commodities. In return, that state fails to develop diversely, which could result in catastrophic economic conditions for that state.
The book underscores the connection between economics and energy security. Dr. Dannreuther discusses the nature of energy commodities markets and how states primarily shape them to maintain competitiveness. This focus on state competition expresses a realist and neo-mercantilist understanding of energy security politics.
The author also addresses state reluctance to seriously make any efforts to transition to renewables, usually out of significant uncertainty around how such a shift would impact a given state's economy and security; he points to questions of technological capabilities and economic viability for renewable sources.
The author also addresses how overreliance on oil creates economic vulnerabilities. There are questions about supply security, suitability, and market fluctuations. However, alternatives to oil, whether nuclear, gas, or renewable energy sources, have all met challenges—cost burdens making sources like nuclear less economical and its perception as an instrument of war. Sources such as gas face questions of transportation costs and accessibility due to geopolitical constraints on gas deposits.
Environment
According to the book, the future of energy security is marked by uncertainties, particularly in the intersection of energy policy and socio-political factors. Despite the threat of climate change, there continues to be a slow movement away from a fossil fuel-dependent world. Dr. Dannreuther explains that economic development is valued higher than climate sustainability, and a lack of unifying authority plagues efforts to implement climate change mitigating policies at the international level.
Final Thoughts
Dr. Dannreuther's Energy Security tackles a complex topic in a digestible package. He uses historical cases to illustrate the complexities of energy security within familiar real-world contexts, providing engaging examples instead of dry technical analysis. The author can speak to environmental issues and the historical drivers of ecological damage without being profoundly political or overly ideological—these are significant strengths of the author's work.
The book thoroughly analyzes how energy issues affect our lives, drawing on international, regional, and state-level examples. It covers topics such as commodity industries, foreign policy issues, and economic markets. However, the book's reliance on historical examples, while a component of its strength, focuses too much on how the current energy security landscape was made and less on how we make necessary shifts and break habits. The book's sections addressing the future give a sobering reality of our impact on the planet and our energy priorities—which analysis emits cynicism. Some might view the book's pessimistic tone as a drawback, while others may see it as a strength for its realistic portrayal of energy challenges. There is a time for ideological expression but a need for sobering analysis to keep us in check and on our toes. The author advocates for innovations that can manage the impacts of our energy practices and policies on the climate. However, the book does not dive deep enough into energy transition efforts. He speaks much of the obstacles but less about the details of solutions.
The topic is so vast that each chapter could likely be its own book. Still, this book is an excellent introduction to energy security topics and issues and a must-read.
