It is no longer contested that energy is a legitimate security issue. But can a military alliance like NATO address energy security? Perhaps, argues Johannes Varwick, but NATO itself must change in order to do so. A US soldier guards an Iraqi oil well. Long gone are the days when raw materials like oil and gas were considered strictly economic goods. Numerous fossil fuel-rich countries struggle with political instability, and new security risks are posed by the suspension or shortage of global energy resources. Energy supplies have been disrupted for strategic reasons (like Russia's interruption of the gas supply to Ukraine in January 2006) and we have witnessed the use of resources as a strategic weapon by undemocratic problem states. Anti-Western energy-producer alliances have formed, for example between Venezuela and Iran, and then there is the threat of international terrorism to energy supplies. Not least, we face the global environmental problems that result from the use of fossil fuels. Climate change could cause hitherto unseen migration, as well as the outbreak of conflict over food, water, and energy. For the first time, in April 2007 at Great Britain's urging, the UN Security Council addressed the implications of energy policy and climate change for security policy.
It is no longer contested that energy is a legitimate security issue. But can a military alliance like NATO address energy security? Perhaps, argues Johannes Varwick, but NATO itself must change in order to do so.
A US soldier guards an Iraqi oil well. Long gone are the days when raw materials like oil and gas were considered strictly economic goods. Numerous fossil fuel-rich countries struggle with political instability, and new security risks are posed by the suspension or shortage of global energy resources. Energy supplies have been disrupted for strategic reasons (like Russia's interruption of the gas supply to Ukraine in January 2006) and we have witnessed the use of resources as a strategic weapon by undemocratic problem states. Anti-Western energy-producer alliances have formed, for example between Venezuela and Iran, and then there is the threat of international terrorism to energy supplies. Not least, we face the global environmental problems that result from the use of fossil fuels. Climate change could cause hitherto unseen migration, as well as the outbreak of conflict over food, water, and energy. For the first time, in April 2007 at Great Britain's urging, the UN Security Council addressed the implications of energy policy and climate change for security policy.
