Klare, Michael T.

Lloyd, Richmond M.

English

U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons

Naval War College ReviewVolume 61Number 4 Autumn Article 122008Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The NewGeopolitics of EnergyRichmond M. LloydMichael T. KlareFollow this and additional works at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-reviewThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. It has been accepted forinclusion in Naval War College Review by an authorized editor of U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. For more information, please contactrepository.inquiries@usnwc.edu.Recommended CitationLloyd, Richmond M. and Klare, Michael T. (2008) "Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy," Naval WarCollege Review: Vol. 61 : No. 4 , Article 12.Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol61/iss4/12BOOK REVIEWSNEW INTERNATIONAL ENERGY ORDERKlare, Michael T. Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy. New York: MetropolitanBooks, 2008. 352pp. $26In this timely volume, Michael Klare,author of thirteen books, including Re-source Wars and Blood and Oil, providesin-depth projections of global demandand supply for all forms of energy, in-cluding petroleum, natural gas, coal,and uranium. A key theme is the con-fluence of two troubling trends. Thefirst is the unprecedented height of fu-ture energy demand (one estimate fore-sees a 57 percent increase in globalenergy consumption by 2030). Chinaand India are expected to account fornearly half of this increase. “Peak oil” isshorthand for the second trend. Theworld has been “seeking more” and“finding less.” “Easy oil” is displacedwith higher-cost “tough oil,” found inunstable or inaccessible regions andtherefore more difficult or expensive toextract. Other nonrenewable energy re-sources show a similar trend. Further,increasing carbon emissions make theuse of more abundant coal resourcesproblematic.Klare assesses in detail the geopolitics ofenergy region by region, with a replayof “the Great Game,” as nations com-pete for access, power, and control.Russia’s rise as “an energy juggernaut”under former president Vladimir Putinis particularly impressive. Putin con-cluded that energy was the key strategicfactor in securing Russia’s economic se-curity, and as such must be com-manded by the state. Klare details howPutin successfully renationalized con-trol of energy resources, with the valueof Gazprom (the largest Russian extrac-tor of national gas in the world) risingfrom $9 billion in 2000 to $250–$300billion in 2006.To avoid a replay of Cold War–like en-ergy competition, Klare argues, cooper-ation between nations is necessary—and should begin between the UnitedStates and China, which will accountfor 39 percent of international energyconsumption by 2030. Proposals he dis-cusses include developing petroleum al-ternatives; increased industrialefficiency; climate-friendly coal; andcollaborative efforts in these and otherareas with Russia, Japan, India, and Eu-rope. Klare’s comprehensive assessmentof a “new international energy order”will be invaluable to strategists as theystrive to better understand what is1Lloyd and Klare: Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of EnergyPublished by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 2008driving nation-states and internationalrelations today.RICHMOND M. LLOYDNaval War CollegeSmith, Paul. The Terrorism Ahead: ConfrontingTransnational Violence in the Twenty-first Cen-tury. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2007. 258pp.$79.95Paul Smith’s The Terrorism Ahead is asuperbly written blend of history, con-temporary analysis, and personal reflec-tion. It is the product of thoroughresearch and study plus a decade’sworth of vigorous debate with an inter-national cast of students, colleagues(Smith is currently a professor at theNaval War College), counterterrorismpractitioners, and academic specialists.The author’s arguments thus merit seri-ous and thoughtful consideration. As aparticipant in many of these debates (Iam a former colleague of Smith’s, andwe did not always agree), I can attest tothe “trials by fire” to which the ideasexpressed in this book were subjected.The Terrorism Ahead provides a com-prehensive, balanced, yet succinct over-view of the key contemporary debatesin terrorism studies. Smith skillfully ex-amines terrorism in its wider historical,geopolitical, and technological contexts.This contextualization of the global en-vironment in which terrorism lives andevolves is the book’s great strength, andwhat makes it a valuable contributionto the literature.Chapter 2, “Historical Evolution,” isone of the best one-stop short historiesof terrorism in print. One might alsosingle out chapter 8, where Smith tack-les terrorism financing and associatedlegal issues. The closing chapter pre-sents a compelling analysis of the “rootcauses” debate and its implications forU.S. policy, plus a thought-provokinglook at the future. In this chapter,Smith argues that five conditions willshape terrorism in the years ahead: de-mography, globalization, transnationalcrime, weak/failed states, and climatechange. Smith is one of the few peopleworking in terrorism studies to seri-ously consider the implications of cli-mate change.Throughout the work, Smith also ex-plains how changes in communications,information, and weapons technologieshave helped shape the conduct of ter-rorism. It would have been interesting,therefore, if he had added a discussionof emerging and predicted advances intechnologies—such as nanotechnologyand genetic engineering—that may pro-vide future tools for terrorists.All in all, The Terrorism Ahead is an en-gaging, comprehensive, and thoughtfulconsideration of the challenge of terror-ism. It should find itself equally athome on the bookshelves of specialists,general readers, and students.CHRISTOPHER JASPARROU.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff CollegeQuantico, VirginiaCordesman, Anthony. Salvaging American De-fense: The Challenge of Strategic Overstretch.Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2007. 488pp. $49.95Anthony Cordesman, current holder ofthe Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategyat the Center for International and Se-curity Studies in Washington, D.C., isone of the most prolific defense analystsin the United States today. Salvaging1 5 0 N A V A L W A R C O L L E G E R E V I E W2Naval War College Review, Vol. 61 [2008], No. 4, Art. 12https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol61/iss4/12

Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy

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Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy

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