Journal of International Affairs articles from September 1999

Journal of International Affairs archives from September 1999

Editors' Foreword.
September 22, 1999... The evolution of human societies is dependent upon the conversion of ever more concentrated and more versatile forms of energy.... Neither the growth of technical capabilities and a deeper understanding of the surrounding world nor the effort...

A New Political Economy of Oil?
September 22, 1999... Today's international petroleum industry is radically different from what it was in the 1970s. Yet it remains as highly politicized as it was in the heyday of resource nationalism two decades ago, when oil occupied the attention of Western...

The Perils of the Petro-State: Reflections on the Paradox of Plenty.
September 22, 1999... Think back to the years 1973 and 1974 when the rapid and unexpected fourfold increase in the price of crude oil created the first global energy crisis. As the most massive transfer of wealth ever to occur without war began to work its way...

The Three Gorges Dam and China's Energy Dilemma.
September 22, 1999... Energy production and utilization in China have undergone enormous changes throughout the 20th century. One of the poorest nations in the world during the 1930s, with electrical output that was miniscule in comparison to neighboring countries...

Russian Energy: A Blessing and a Curse.
September 22, 1999... No study of world energy would be complete without including Russia. Yet despite so much potential, this resource-rich country has failed to take full advantage of its energy abundance. Through its egregious mismanagement of these resources,...

Energy and the Asian Security Nexus.
September 22, 1999... Energy security concerns have always been central to geopolitical interests. Throughout history, the effort to secure access to energy sources and ensure adequate transport routes has demanded technological, commercial, diplomatic and military...

Living With Coal: India's Energy Policy in the 21st Century.
September 22, 1999... India's energy sector has been receiving a great deal of attention in recent years, particularly since the signing of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) in 1992. In almost every forum dealing with the mitigation of emissions of...

La Apertura: The Opening of Venezuela's Oil Industry.
September 22, 1999... Between 1994 and 1999 Venezuela's entire oil and natural gas sector underwent the largest transformation in its contemporary history. Everything from gas and oil production to transportation, processing, refining and marketing was reformed to...

Path Insistence: Comparing European and American Attitudes Toward Energy.(Statistical Data Included)
September 22, 1999... Last year I gave two similar talks about energy at two universities on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean and had two entirely different responses.(1) At each university I made the case that in the 20th century the United States had...

Nuclear Energy Policy in the European Union: Meltdown or False Alarm?
September 22, 1999... [A]part from the Green movement, there is little evidence of widespread public opposition to the continued operation of existing nuclear plants in Western and Northern Europe Recent elections in Sweden, Germany and France have helped shift...

A New Energy Paradigm for the 21st Century.(Review)
September 22, 1999... An intimate relationship between energy and international affairs has developed during the last two hundred years. The 18th century rise of the British Empire was fueled by the Industrial Revolution, which was in turn powered--and to some...

Energy Surprises for the 21st Century.
September 22, 1999... Twenty-three years ago Amory Lovins was heavily criticized as wildly optimistic for predicting that energy efficiency would play a major role in shifting United States energy use patterns, thus reducing overall consumption far below official...

The Soft Case for Soft Energy.
September 22, 1999... Since the 1970s, North American and European governments as well as many policy analysts have believed that fossil fuels will gradually be replaced by "softer" sources of energy--mainly renewable energy sources such as windpower, solar power,...

Biomass Energy and the Poor in the Developing World.
September 22, 1999... With the recent negotiations surrounding the Kyoto Protocol and the growing awareness of the limits of traditional approaches to energy, the urgent need to develop more climate-friendly energy technologies is becoming keenly appreciated...

Multinationals and the New World of Energy Development: A Corporate Perspective.
September 22, 1999... As the century draws to a close, multinational energy companies have entered a new and challenging period in their relatively brief but dramatic history. Technical advances and the end of the Cold War have made it possible for these companies...

The Role and Responsibility of Oil Multinationals in Nigeria.
September 22, 1999... The role played by the oil multinationals in Nigeria has received increasing attention in recent years as protest against oil production has grown, and with it the repressive response of the Nigerian government. Shell in particular, the largest...

Pipelines and Pipe Dreams: Energy Development and Caspian Society.
September 22, 1999... It is time to develop a new conventional wisdom to apply to the eight states of the Caspian Basin region,(1) one that better recognizes the region's implicit social weaknesses as well as its potential economic strengths. While the Caspian Basin...

The Caspian Pipeline Debate Continues: Why Not Iran?
September 22, 1999... The export of oil and gas reserves from the heavily resource-endowed Caspian states--Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazahkstan and Russia--is an economic problem that has evolved into a complex network of geo-strategic concerns. The...

The Price of Wealth: Economics and Institutions in the Middle East.(Review)
September 22, 1999... The Price of Wealth: Economics and Institutions in the Middle East Kiren Aziz Chaudhry (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997) 330 pp. Why is it that the oil-producing countries include a disproportionate number of what seem to be...

Libya Since Independence: Oil and State-Building.(Review)
September 22, 1999... Libya Since Independence: Oil and State-Building Dirk Vandewalle (Ithaca, NY; Cornell University Press, 1998) 226 pp. Why is it that the oil-producing countries include a disproportionate number of what seem to be the world's most...

NIMBY Politics in Japan: Energy Siting and The Management of Environmental Conflict.(Review)
September 22, 1999... NIMBY Politics in Japan: Energy Siting and The Management of Environmental Conflict S. Hayden Lesbirel (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998) 187 pp. It is often true that a single community must bear the costs of a project that...

Azerbaijan Diary: A Rogue Reporter's Adventures in an Oil-Rich, War-Torn, Post-Soviet Republic.(Review)
September 22, 1999... Azerbaijan Diary: A Rogue Reporter's Adventures in an Oil-Rich, War-Torn, Post-Soviet Republic Thomas Goltz (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe Press, 1998) 496 pp. Thomas Goltz's Azerbaijan Diary is a fascinating account of Azerbaijan's path...

Energizing China: Reconciling Environmental Protection and Economic Growth.(Review)
September 22, 1999... Energizing China: Reconciling Environmental Protection and Economic Growth Michael B. McElroy, Chris P. Nielson and Peter Lydon (eds.) (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998) 596 pp. In recent years awareness of the...

Consuming Power: A Social History of American Energies.(Review)
September 22, 1999... Consuming Power: A Social History of American Energies David Nye (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998) 331 pp. David Nye has carved out a place for himself in academic circles with his considerable work on the social implications of...

After Kyoto: Are There Rational Pathways to a Sustainable Global Energy System?(Review)
September 22, 1999... After Kyoto: Are There Rational Pathways to a Sustainable Global Energy System? 1998 Aspen Energy Policy Forum Report (Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute, 1998) 51 pp. In 1998 the Aspen Institute convened its annual Energy Policy...

Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution.(Review)
September 22, 1999... Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins and Hunter Lovins (New York: Little, Brown and Company; 1999) 378 pp. Over the past 20 years, as the environmental movement has moved toward...