The Geopolitics of Energy Seminar Series

Today's policy and academic discussions about energy focus on the need to reduce consumption and to shift to alternative, renewable fuel sources. While such moves are critical components of any strategy to address both global warming and energy security, the United States and other large consumer countries will remain dependent on fossil fuels for years -- even decades -- to come. Access to such resources is increasingly complicated, with political factors topping the list of constraints.

The Obama Administration comes into office determined to change American attitudes to energy and better align U.S. foreign policy and energy policy. This welcome effort needs to acknowledge the reality of continued reliance on fossil fuels in the short and medium term -- and factor it into the broader formulation of American strategy. This energy-inspired evolution of grand strategy is already underway in great and middle powers around the world. Some countries are infusing energy into their grand strategies; China's "mercantilist" foreign policy is arguably foremost about securing energy needs. Other countries, such those in Europe, are also dealing with the geopolitical ramifications of their energy arrangements. Meanwhile, Gulf states are calculating how best to use their finite resources and are planning transitions to other types of economies.

This seminar series hosted distinguished speakers and experts to discuss the most pressing issues at the intersection of geopolitics and energy. These guests focused on how great and middle powers are shaping their grand strategies in light of their assumptions about future energy supplies and demand. What are the assumptions about energy held by various countries or regions? How are such energy perceptions shaping the way in which big consumer countries craft their political, economic, and military interactions with the world? How are such assumptions driving the domestic growth strategies of big producer countries -- and their efforts to establish alliances and relationships? The seminars also considered the reverse: how geopolitical realities are influencing energy strategies. To what extent are geopolitics influencing the pace and character of the shift to alternative energy sources? How real or prevalent is the use of energy resources for political ends?

Understanding how energy shapes the grand strategies of China, Russia, India, Europe, Saudi Arabia, and others is vital in mapping out the contours of the future global order. These seminars are the basis for identifying possible new nodes of international conflict and cooperation, and deficiencies in existing international structures. The seminars also draw attention to geopolitical problems that could arise as the United States and other countries make energy more central in their plans, as well as well as highlight the geopolitical implications of possible shifts away from fossil fuels.

To watch a video of a seminar, click on its title. (RealPlayer required)

• February 18, 2009
  Topic: The Future of Oil and Gas
  Speaker: John Hess, Chairman and CEO, Hess Corporation, provides an overview of energy facts and trends and talks about the reality of continued reliance on fossil fuel for decades to come.
• February 25, 2009
  Topic: Europe and the Caspian
  Speaker: Steve Mann, Coordinator for Eurasian Energy Diplomacy, U.S. Department of State; Former U.S. Ambassador to Turkmenistan, explains how energy endowments in the Caspian have created new political opportunities and challenges for the region.
• March 4, 2009
  Topic: China
  Speaker: Erica Downs, China Energy Fellow, The Brookings Institution, looks at how China is both driving important energy trends and preparing for a world of scarcer energy sources.
• March 11, 2009
  Topic: The United States
  Speaker: Amy Myers Jaffe, Wilson Fellow in Energy Studies at the Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, analyzes U.S. strategy, questioning whether conventional wisdoms and current U.S. efforts really make sense in light of today's energy realities.
• March 18, 2009
  Topic: Russia
  Speaker: Fiona Hill, National Intelligence Officer for Russia and Eurasia, National Intelligence Council, discusses the rise of Russia, its connection to Russia's resources, and the meaning of interdependence for Russia and Europe.
• April 1, 2009
  Topic: India
  Speaker: Varun Rai, Research Fellow, Stanford University, explores how India is planning to meet its growing energy requirements in the decades ahead.
• April 22, 2009
  Topic: Energy, Markets, and Geopolitics
  Speaker: Tom Fingar, Payne Distinguished Lecturer, Stanford University; Former Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, takes a historical view, looking at how the centrality of energy in foreign policy has waxed and waned over the decades.
• April 29, 2009
  Topic: Geopolitics of Energy: Looking Forward
  Speaker: Llewelyn Hughes, Research Fellow, Consortium for Energy Policy Research, Harvard Kennedy School, examines the rationale behind equity oil strategies and examines the intersection between Japan's foreign policies and energy strategies.