The Political Economy of Energy

• In Event: 40403 - Emergent Horizons in the Capitalist World-System in Crisis

Abstract

The political economy of energy has emerged through a cyclical process of modernization and development. In the natural world, all living beings possess a direct relationship with energy, for the movement of energy from one biological body and physical state to another occurs through complex processes that enable us to breathe, eat, and dream. In the modern world-system, energy is a commodity and a matter of national security. The Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries generated a fossil fuel regime that continues to shape how we live and work. In the twenty-first century, energy development is informed by a combination of factors, including hydraulic fracturing, the emergence of a Second Cold War, and a multinational race to secure renewable energy resources and markets. This chapter engages world-systems theory and comparative case study analysis to query the structural drivers of conventional and renewable energy transitions. Identifying the emergence of an interlocking command-capitalist economy, I show how the collusion of powerful states and multinational corporations is fossilizing energy development, closing prospects for international cooperation on global climate change.

Author

• Jennifer Keahey, Arizona State University-West