RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2009
Call for papers
Rescaling energy security
Sponsored by the Climate Change Research Group
Organisers: Stefan Bouzarovski - Buzar and Dan van der Horst
(University of Birmingham)
Discussant: Gavin Bridge (University of Manchester)
Energy security has gained increased prominence as a political issue
over the past few years thanks to, inter alia, events such as the
rapid increase in the price of oil in 2007 and early 2008, and
geopolitical problems over the supply of Russian gas to Europe. The
growing public interest and media attention has been accompanied by a
wide range of academic studies focussing on the political and economic
dimensions of the security of supply among different states. However,
this understanding of energy security is predicated on a particular
construction of scale and space, emphasising the ability of national-
level institutional actors to obtain a stable and reliable source of
energy over a given timescale. Downstream, demand-side issues are
rarely considered, despite the fact that the boundaries between energy
production and consumption are becoming increasingly fluid and
entangled.
This session seeks to challenge discourses about the primacy of
national, supply-side issues in the articulation of energy security,
opening up the possibility of treating this issue with the aid of a
multiscalar framework which operates both at the supra-national and
household level. Such an understanding of scale allows issues of local
energy planning and household-level energy precariousness to also be
considered within the context of energy security, while opening the
path for incorporating the environmental, economic and social
implications of climate change mitigation measures within the same
context. In a broader sense, the session seeks to explore the
potential contribution of geographers to energy studies in terms of
building 'alternative' understandings of scale in the interpretation
of energy security. Building on several promising debates at the 2008
IBG, this session seeks to further the contribution of geographers to
energy research, focussing especially on the unpacking of the social
production of scale, infrastructure and power in the conceptualisation
of energy security. Papers could address, but are not limited to:
- Energy security and critical geopolitics
- Decentralised energy provision and energy security
- Fuel poverty and energy precariousness in the context of energy
security
- The production of scale in energy security discourses
- Links between identity or ideology, and access to or control over
energy sources and technologies.
- Spatial and temporal transformations in the 'value' of specific
energy services.
- The role of privatisation and private sector entrepreneurship with
regards to energy security
- The role of other non-state actors in the promotion of energy
security or independence (e.g. the off grid movement; low carbon
lifestyles; local and collective action for energy security)
If you're interested in participating, please contact the organisers
at [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask] no later than
the 10th of February with an abstract of 250 words.
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