Energy Geopolitics and National Security

Catalog description

It's commonly accepted that national energy policies have direct impacts on regional security and global geopolitical dynamics. But what happens when energy itself becomes a national security issue? Contemporary headlines illustrate the risk of viewing energy policy strictly through an economic lens. Authoritarian states continue to weaponize energy resources against dependent global democracies, while democracies increasingly rely on high-profile energy sectoral sanctions and technology export controls as vital tools of economic statecraft. Both examples illustrate how actors can use energy strategically, in both offensive and defensive capacities. An understanding of these threats is essential to developing sound energy diplomacy strategies to ensure that the energy transition is realized in a way that supports regional stability, security, and human rights. This course will teach students how to develop multidisciplinary energy analysis, policy recommendations, and diplomatic strategies that can work to address these global energy security challenges. The course will assess as a case study the current European energy infrastructure landscape and ask students to propose infrastructure, regulatory, and physical/cyber security strategies from the perspective of a practitioner of energy diplomacy. The course will also teach students valuable skills related to open-source intelligence methods, including tapping into new commercial space industry data sets (each student will receive a free Planet satellite imagery account that can be used in research assignments). We will review recent U.S. and European sanctions policies through the framework of existing and proposed Russia sanctions, and understand how the commercial space technology renaissance can aid energy infrastructure protection and sanctions policy development. The course is designed to be fast-paced,…