What do different understandings of energy security do? How do they influence economic, social and environmental agendas of different states? Jonna Nyman answers these questions by problematizing the very notion of “security” in energy politics and conceptualizing it in a way that allows her to examine how and with what effect different state and non-state actors frame energy as a security matter.
Two key theoretical propositions anchor Nyman's analysis. First, security is a practice, “something that people do” (p. 24). Second, security has neither an inherent meaning nor an intrinsic value but is never neutral. As a result, Nyman approaches security as “a powerful tool for change” (p. 32) and distinguishes “negative” and “positive” energy security. She applies this theoretical framework to detailed case studies of the energy security practices of the two largest energy producers and consumers and the largest carbon dioxide emitters – the United States and China. Examining the actions and habits that “common sense” energy security produces in the US and China, Nyman identifies a security paradox: in both countries “state energy security practices result in less security for states, human beings, and the environment” (p. 7).
In chapter three and chapter five, Nyman offers a brief overview of the development of energy policy-making and planning in China and the US, and discusses key dimensions of energy security in both countries since 2004, including legislation and regulation, production and consumption, the policy-making process, and intersections between energy security and foreign policy. Further, the attention shifts to energy discourses that create and sustain the dominant readings of energy as a security issue. Nyman's analysis demonstrates that “common sense” understandings of energy security in the US and China reproduce “negative” security practices. Both the US and China focus on avoiding sudden changes in the availability of energy relative to demand in the name of national security and ongoing economic prosperity. They approach international energy relations as a zero-sum game, with the state being the only guarantor of safety and protection. As a result, both states develop an unhealthy obsession with energy independence and self-sufficiency. Finite, diminishing and costly fossil fuels, particularly oil, continue to be the primary security object. Summarizing the first part of her work, Nyman argues that “the concept of energy security has evolved from simply describing a need for energy to becoming synonymous with national security and providing states with fossil fuels,” and such a framing of energy security is “not only outdated, it is also counterproductive” (p. 132).
Moving beyond the critique of “common sense” practices that produce the security paradox, Nyman explores existing alternative approaches to energy development that aim at crafting an understanding of energy security with climate as an integral consideration. She explains the politics that empowers them and factors that keep them marginalized in the US and China in chapters four and six, and draws together the findings of all four empirical chapters in chapter seven. In the US, voices calling for rethinking of energy security are loud and numerous but have remained largely marginalized and met some short-term success on individual issues only during Obama's second administration (such as the blocking of the Keystone XL pipeline). In contrast, China's official environmental and energy security discourses merge, triggering notable policy shifts in the early 2010s (e.g. state support for investment in renewables and climate change mitigation). The state responds to the growing public concerns about the quality of the environment, and, as Nyman persistently highlights, when it comes to environmental protection, China's government is increasingly willing to work with local NGOs (p. 123). However, “any real change” in Chinese energy security practices will require a reform of energy governance and limiting the influence of the major energy SOEs on decision making (p. 128). Finally, Nyman argues that climate change mitigation has the potential to become an area where the US, China and other states can cooperate to produce sustainable international energy security solutions.
Nyman's insightful book offers a novel perspective on international energy politics. It offers a cogent theoretical and normative framework for evaluation and refinement of traditional approaches to energy security, and it sheds new light on the roots of energy policy-making in the US and China, bringing to the fore critical challenges that these countries have faced over the past decades. Overall, this book is essential reading for a large audience including China specialists as well as researchers and policy-makers working in the fields of energy policy, environmental sustainability and national security.
