Conceptualising energy security and making explicit its polysemic nature

Chester, Lynne

doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2009.10.039

Cited by 387 publications

(212 citation statements)

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“…Conceptualising energy security is difficult; the concept has been called notoriously ÔfuzzyÕ (Valentine 2010;Chester 2010) and academic studies offer and debate a number of competing definitions (Sovacool and Brown 2010;Winzer 2012). However, attempts to broaden the meaning of energy security are much more common in environmental studies and energy technology/policy work Ð see, for example, Kruyt et al (2009).…”

Section: Energy Climate and Securitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking energy, climate and security: a critical analysis of energy security in the US

Nyman

2018

J Int Relat Dev

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Understanding the complicated relationship between energy, climate and security is vital both to the study of international relations and to ensure the continued survival of human civilisation in a world increasingly threatened by environmental change. Climate change is largely caused by burning fossil fuels for energy, but while discussions on the climate consider the role of energy, energy security debates largely overlook climate concerns. This article traces the separation between energy and climate through an analysis of the US energy security discourse and policy. It shows that energy security is constructed continually as national security, which enables very particular policy choices and prioritises it above climate concerns. Thus, in many cases, policies undertaken in the name of energy security contribute directly to climate insecurity. The article argues that the failure to consider securing the climate as inherently linked to energy security is not just problematic, but, given global warming, potentially harmful. Consequently, any approach to dealing with climate change has to begin by rethinking energy security and security more broadly, as national (energy) security politics no longer provides security in any meaningful sense.

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Section: Energy Climate and Securitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking energy, climate and security: a critical analysis of energy security in the US

Nyman

2018

J Int Relat Dev

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“…These critiques (Ciută 2010;Cherp 2012;Cherp and Jewell 2011;Chester 2010;Littlefield 2013;Toke and Vezirgiannidou 2013;Valentine 2011) note the "polysemic" nature of energy security across policy research, and analyze the epistemological methods used to determine what is and is not relevant to being "energy secure." In combination, the authors highlight a number of key factors.…”

Section: Conceptualizing Energy Securitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Morals, Materials, and Technoscience

Tidwell

Smith

2015

Science, Technology, & Human Values

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This article advances recent scholarship on energy security by arguing that the concept is best understood as a sociotechnical imaginary, a collective vision for a "good society" realized through technoscientific-oriented policies. Focusing on the 1952 Resources for Freedom report, the authors trace the genealogy of energy security, elucidating how it establishes a morality of efficiency that orients policy action under the guise of security towards the liberalizing of markets in resource states and a robust program of energy research and development in the United States. This evidence challenges the pervasive historical anchoring of the concept in the 1970s and illustrates the importance of the genealogical approach for the emerging literature on energy and sociotechnical imaginaries. Exploring the genealogy of energy security also unpacks key social, political, and economic undercurrents that disrupt the seeming universality of the language of energy, leading the authors to question whether energy security discourse is appropriate for guiding policy action during ongoing global energy transitions.

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“…Many authors give different definitions [3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Christian Winzer [10] "suggests narrowing down the concept of energy security to the concept of energy supply continuity".…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%