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The Peculiar Politics of Energy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 September 2012

Ann Florini
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Extract

Imagine that you could wave a magic wand and provide everyone in the world with easy access to clean and affordable energy. In one stroke you would make the world a far cleaner, richer, fairer, and safer place. Suddenly, a billion and a half of the world's poorest people could discover what it is like to turn on an electric light in the evening. The looming threat posed by climate change would largely disappear. From the South China Sea to the Middle East to the Arctic, geopolitical tensions over energy resources would fade away. Human health would benefit, too, as vaccines and perishable foods could be refrigerated the world over. And many of the world's most corrupt government officials could no longer enrich themselves by bleeding their countries dry of revenues from fossil fuel sales.

Type
Essay
Information
Ethics & International Affairs , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , Fall 2012 , pp. 293 - 309
Copyright
Copyright © Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs 2012

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References

NOTES

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5 See, e.g., Makki, Muhammad, “China's Quest for Arctic Access and Resources,” Journal of Energy Security 19 (April 2012)Google Scholar; www.ensec.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=351:chinas-quest-for-arctic-access-aamp-resources&catid=123:content&Itemid=389.

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27 “2012 International Year of Sustainable Energy for All”; www.un.org/en/events/sustainableenergyforall/.

28 This estimate of global GDP in 2011 comes from the CIA World Factbook; www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/xx.html; accessed May 4, 2012.

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34 David Sandalow, “Innovative Technologies, Innovative Diplomacy,” blog post, April 29, 2012; www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/04/29/innovative-technologies-innovative-diplomacy.