Sören Scholvin – författare

Starting from the key concept of geo-economics, this book investigates the new power politics and argues that the changing structural features of the contemporary international system are recasting the strategic imperatives of foreign policy practice.States increasingly practice power politics by economic means. Whether it is about Iran’s nuclear programme or Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Western states prefer economic sanctions to military force. Most rising powers have also become cunning agents of economic statecraft. China, for instance, is using finance, investment and trade as means to gain strategic influence and embed its global rise. Yet the way states use economic power to pursue strategic aims remains an understudied topic in International Political Economy and International Relations. The contributions to this volume assess geo-economics as a form of power politics. They show how power and security are no longer simply coupled to the physical control of territory by military means, but also to commanding and manipulating the economic binds that are decisive in today’s globalised and highly interconnected world. Indeed, as the volume shows, the ability to wield economic power forms an essential means in the foreign policies of major powers. In so doing, the book challenges simplistic accounts of a return to traditional, military-driven geopolitics, while not succumbing to any unfounded idealism based on the supposedly stabilising effects of interdependence on international relations. As such, it advances our understanding of geo-economics as a strategic practice and as an innovative and timely analytical approach.This book will be of much interest to students of security studies, international political economy, foreign policy and International Relations in general.

Starting from the key concept of geo-economics, this book investigates the new power politics and argues that the changing structural features of the contemporary international system are recasting the strategic imperatives of foreign policy practice.States increasingly practice power politics by economic means. Whether it is about Iran’s nuclear programme or Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Western states prefer economic sanctions to military force. Most rising powers have also become cunning agents of economic statecraft. China, for instance, is using finance, investment and trade as means to gain strategic influence and embed its global rise. Yet the way states use economic power to pursue strategic aims remains an understudied topic in International Political Economy and International Relations. The contributions to this volume assess geo-economics as a form of power politics. They show how power and security are no longer simply coupled to the physical control of territory by military means, but also to commanding and manipulating the economic binds that are decisive in today’s globalised and highly interconnected world. Indeed, as the volume shows, the ability to wield economic power forms an essential means in the foreign policies of major powers. In so doing, the book challenges simplistic accounts of a return to traditional, military-driven geopolitics, while not succumbing to any unfounded idealism based on the supposedly stabilising effects of interdependence on international relations. As such, it advances our understanding of geo-economics as a strategic practice and as an innovative and timely analytical approach.This book will be of much interest to students of security studies, international political economy, foreign policy and International Relations in general.

In the last two decades, various states from the Global South have emerged as important players in international relations. Most popular among them is China. Brazil, India and South Africa have also taken essential roles in global and regional politics. Compared to traditional great powers, they can be labelled ’regional great powers’ or ’regional powers’ because their influence is - with the exception of China - concentrated on their neighbourhood. The impact of regions, meaning the impact of geography, on the economics and politics of regional powers is surprisingly understudied. This book analyses how geographical conditions influence the regional economics and politics of South Africa, allowing the author to delineate its region of influence.

Global energy consumption will increase rapidly in the next decades. The discrepancy between demand and supply is worrisome within the old and new cores of the world-economy. Sub-Saharan Africa meanwhile possesses vast potential for energy resources to be further exploited. Whilst the Global North is a traditional player in the sub-Saharan energy sector, new actors from emerging economies - especially China’s state-owned enterprises but also Brazilian, Indian and South African giants - have entered what appears to be a scramble for the largely untapped energy resources of the region. This book is the first to bring together comparative perspectives on: · The strategies of state and non-state actors involved in the exploitation of sub-Saharan energy resources. · The potential and pitfalls of new forms of cooperation on energy southwards of the Sahara. · The domestic opportunities and challenges of the present energy resource boom. Dynamics on the international level are brought together with local developments to provide up-to-date insights on the scramble for energy resources in sub-Saharan Africa. This book also advances a materialist approach applicable in geographical and political-scientific research, showing that much insight can be gained by concentrating on the material environment that shapes economic and political phenomena.

Energy has always been essential to economics and politics. While global energy consumption increases, fossil fuels are depleting. The countries that will be hit hardest by declining energy resources are the emerging economies of the Global South, where the relevance of the industrial sector is only slightly declining (or, indeed, still on the rise) and where governments have subsidised energy consumption for decades. Climate change – a direct outcome of the increasing consumption of fossil fuels – hits these emerging economies hard. Against this backdrop, Energy Policy inthe Emerging Economies: Climate Change Mitigation under the Constraints of Path Dependence analyses energy policy in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africaand South Korea with particular regard to these countries’ contributions to climatechange mitigation. Advancing a new approach that expands on energy transition studies and the concept of path dependence, Sören Scholvin and Joachim Betzshed light on material conditions, energy demand and expansion plans, politico-economicconstellations, energy-related know-how and climate policy.