The Palgrave Handbook of the International Political Economy of Energy (Palgrave Handbooks in IPE) - Tapa dura

“Energy is one of the most central elements of the global economy, and it is ubiquitous in the political relations between nations.  Yet the academic field of international political economy has focused erratically on only on a few niches of the energy system.   At last, scholars have a handbook that masterfully covers the full waterfront.  Van de Graaf and his colleagues give readers a tour of issues as diverse as the future of OPEC, cross-border investment, resource wars, climate change and the impacts of energy systems on social justice.  What remains to be done is for mainstream international political economy to give these topics more attention, and this book helps show how that can be done.” (David G. Victor, University of California at San Diego, USA)

“An excellent book on one of the most pressing issues of our time: energy. The Handbook is distinctive not only because of its international political economy orientation, but also because of its comprehensiveness. The editors have amassed an impressive range of international experts on the political economy of energy to create an invaluable teaching resource on the subject for many years to come.” (Professor Michael Bradshaw, Professor of Global Energy, Warwick Business School, UK)

“After decades of neglect, international political economists have become active scholars on energy. The range and depth of that research is on display in this excellent Handbook which will serve as a great tool for PhD students as well as established scholars who want to understand the international political economy of energy.” (Kathleen J. Hancock, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado)

This Handbook is the first volume to analyse the International Political Economy, the who-gets-what-when-and-how, of global energy. Divided into five sections, it features 28 contributions that deal with energy institutions, trade, transitions, conflict and justice. The chapters span a wide range of energy technologies and markets - including oil and gas, biofuels, carbon capture and storage, nuclear, and electricity - and it cuts across the domestic-international divide. Long-standing issues in the IPE of energy such as the role of OPEC and the ‘resource curse’ are combined with emerging issues such as fossil fuel subsidies and carbon markets. IPE perspectives are interwoven with insights from studies on governance, transitions, security, and political ecology. The Handbook serves as a potent reminder that energy systems are as inherently political and economic as they are technical or technological, and demonstrates that the field of IPE has much to offer to studies of the changing world of energy.