Global Insecurity, a Strategy for Energy and Economic Renewal

Abstract

This is not a book about energy itself, but about the economic, social, and political consequences of the energy problem. The authors and editors look not only to the recent past, but also to the future in order to ask how these consequences might be felt in the rest of the 1980s and the 1990s. Their aim is not to offer specific forecasts, but rather to provide a framework for understanding the challenges and choices that the people of the world will face. The book is the result of a four-year research project. Even this relatively brief period has spanned four energy eras - an oil glut, a major oil shock, a minor oil shock, and another glut - all of which have been accompanied by rapid shifts in public attitudes and a great deal of confusion. Indeed, the one sure glut has been that of confusion. An attempt is made to clear up some of that confusion with what is, hopefully, a coherent and reasonable interpretation. A separate abstract was prepared for the overview chapter and the other eleven chapters.