A good old friend pointed out that the nation state is a recent invention in human history and that empires are far more common. Empires like the Roman, Ottoman, British, Spanish, and French all spanned hundreds of years, and only recently do we have a mostly national based world order.
What has this got to do with energy empires…?
Access to regional energy resources is defining a new world order. Control of Venezuela, The Gulf, The North Sea, Australia, Canada, Russia, and Greenland are the backdrop to many theatres.
There may be some sense for humanity in moving back to empires: If you’re an inhabitant of a low-lying island nation state, then your climate risk could be beyond what your state can mitigate, but if you’re part of an empire then the greater empire should be looking after you. If empires have control of sufficient energy assets, there could be greater security of supply and more equitable access. And the cross-national coordination on climate change, that currently eludes us, could be achieved at least on a regional basis.
There are many reasons why empires aren’t a good thing; they are draconian and rarely equitable, many lives are lost in the battles that form them, and they put their own survival ahead of their people and the planet.
Energy empires may be an inevitable consequence of where the world is heading, perhaps we should prepare for this new world order?
