Energy security and shifting modes of governance

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

International oil companies and host states: a new bargaining model

This paper establishes a model for analyzing the dynamics of the host state-international oil company (IOC) bargaining relationship. Theoretically, the model advances our ability to investigate bargaining dynamics between host states, oil companies and other stakeholders in the oil industry. It is a mechanism which simplifies the complex array of relationships and bargains within which the host state-IOC bargaining relationship is nested. The model builds on and leverages the key contributions of earlier bargaining models. It enables us to integrate relevant ideas from existing scholarship on host state-MNC bargaining while also taking into account other actors and bargains at domestic and international levels that affect bargaining between an IOC and a host state. Practically, the model will help actors choose strategies more systematically, leading to higher relative bargaining power that may translate to preferable bargaining outcomes

Renewable energy and resource efficiency: governance is key

This chapter draws insights into the nature of energy security by emphasising its contextual, dynamic, multidimensional and polysemic features. It then identifies critical questions requiring further investigation (e.g. about the trade-offs involved in using the emergent twenty-first century energy security paradigm). The chapter argues that the value of the proposed novel model of energy security is in its ability to transform the energy sector and ensure sustainability. The sustainability approach is useful as it accommodates critical perspectives on energy security (ever-increasing utilisation of renewables, complemented by continuous improvements in efficiency and energy efficiency), which forms the governance' focus. Future research opportunities (energy security as value to society, community mobilisation) are also identified