IGA-226: Geopolitics of Energy

Semester: Fall

Credit: 1.0

Syllabus: Click here for syllabus

Faculty: Meghan O'Sullivan

Schedule

Day Time Location
First Day 9/2
Meet Day M/W 11:40 AM - 1:00 PM RG-20
Review

Description

The pursuit of energy security has grown more complicated with mounting concern about the existing supply of resources, the imperative for energy to be environmentally sustainable, and rates of growth in the developing world that push energy demand ever higher.  Most countries recognize the need to move their economies away from fossil fuels, but such a dramatic transition will take decades to complete.  This course begins by looking at the broad array of threats to energy security and then examines the measures both producer and consumer countries are taking to advance their energy security.  The course then explores the geopolitical ramification of such measures.  How do efforts to promote and protect energy concerns influence the political, military, and economic strategies of countries? What is the cumulative effect of such strategies for the global system, for patterns of conflict and cooperation, and for international institutions?  Students will gain a better understanding of how energy is increasingly defining the parameters of the international system.