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  • Perspective
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International relations theory on grid communities and international politics in a green world

Nature Energy volume 8, pages 1073–1077 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

The energy community’s analyses of international politics often rely on geopolitics, which prioritizes state competition for resources and thus may offer limited explanatory power. Meanwhile, the discipline of international relations (IR), which explicitly examines world politics, seldom focuses on energy. This Perspective brings geopolitics and IR theory together. It provides a brief history of both fields and introduces several IR theories. To demonstrate how IR theory can help illuminate energy issues, it is used to examine an unfounded assumption that has crept into the energy community’s literature. Wide-scale deployment of variable renewable energy will probably require greater cross-border electrification and regional interconnectedness, which energy scholars presume will lead to the formation of cooperative and peaceful multi-state grid communities. The consideration of IR theories presented here helps buttress this assumption and contributes towards addressing the question of whether energy security is better achieved through independence or interdependence.

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Acknowledgements

This Perspective could not have been completed without the guidance of several experts on electricity transmission, including L. de Vries from the Delft University of Technology and my colleague at Constructor University, S. Kettemann. I am also grateful for the advice provided by T. Sabonis-Helf of Georgetown University and the assistance of my student, J.-L. Fichtner.

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  1. School of Business, Social & Decision Sciences, Constructor University, Bremen, Germany

    Karen Smith Stegen

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  1. Karen Smith Stegen
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Correspondence to Karen Smith Stegen.

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Nature Energy thanks Roland Dannreuther and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Smith Stegen, K. International relations theory on grid communities and international politics in a green world. Nat Energy 8, 1073–1077 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-023-01363-z

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