Energy and Geopolitics

Per Högselius is Professor of History of Technology and International Relations at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. His teaching and research centre on energy and natural resources in an international political context.

“Energy and Geopolitics provides accessible and excellent background on primary and secondary energy sources while adeptly explaining key tensions and debates in the field. Each topic’s real-world relevance is brought to life through fascinating historical examples. The updated treatment of renewables, critical minerals, and recent crises underscores why energy remains central to understanding global politics. An indispensable resource for students and scholars.”– Karen Smith Stegen, Constructor University, Germany“Energy and Geopolitics is a fascinating contribution in the transnational historiography of energy. Moving beyond conventional resource-centered geopolitics, it develops a sophisticated socio-technical understanding of energy systems. Its strongest contribution lies in showing how infrastructures, interdependencies, and political imaginaries shape international relations. The book challenges the dominant assumption that energy geopolitics is primarily about conflict and coercion. By emphasizing the Saint-Simonian tradition of infrastructures as instruments of peace and cooperation, the book provides a historically rich and analytically nuanced framework for understanding globalization, European integration, and contemporary energy transitions. This is a book that needs to be read by historians of energy and technology, STS scholars as well as researchers in the field of sustainability transitions.”– Stathis Arapostathis, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece“Historian Per Högselius shows that, despite the weaponization of energy dependencies and recurring energy crises, the interdependence created through energy flows remains a powerful yet underestimated force. Drawing on a rich historical perspective, he demonstrates that today’s challenges are not without precedent while avoiding oversimplifications that obscure the complexities of the energy landscape and leave societies ill-prepared for the crises they face.”– Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen, Aleksanteri Institute, Finland“The second edition of Energy and Geopolitics is a timely, original and innovative study of the complex historical roots of today’s global energy landscape. By adopting a sociotechnical systems perspective, Per Högselius offers new ways of understanding the geopolitics of energy, through the study of the interaction between different actors and institutions, and the making and remaking of energy geographies.”– Elisabetta Bini, University of Naples Federico II, Italy

• Preface to the second edition Preface to the first edition 1. Introduction 2. International Energy Systems 3. Who Controls World Energy? 4. Understanding Energy Dependence 5. Managing Vulnerability in a Geopolitical Context 6. Energy as a Foreign Policy Tool 7. Energy Transnationalism