TY - JOUR
T1 - The global politics of the renewable energy transition and the non-substitutability hypothesis
T2 - Towards a ‘great transformation’?
AU - Albert, Michael J.
N1 - Funding Information:
I’d like to thank Nils Kupzok and the two anonymous reviewers for their incisive and constructive feedback on the manuscript, which helped to clarify and sharpen the argument.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2022/9/3
Y1 - 2022/9/3
N2 - This essay will investigate the question of how the renewable energy (RE) transition may reshape world politics. To date, most IPE scholars of the RE transition assume that renewables will simply substitute for fossil fuels and thereby continue similar patterns of economic growth and military competition that have characterized world politics over the past two centuries. However, they do not systematically con- sider what I call the ‘non-substitutability hypothesis,’ or the view that renewables will be unable to substitute for many of the services that fossil fuels provide for economies and militaries. In contrast, I will argue that if the non-substitutability hypothesis is correct, then a fully decarbonized global political economy would require a ‘Great Transformation,’ or a structural transformation in the political-eco- nomic and military bases of world order. In particular, I suggest that this would require two conjoined transitions: 1) a transition towards a ‘post-growth’ global pol- itical economy, or an economy that does not depend on continuous annual increases in GDP; and 2) a shift towards ‘demilitarization,’ in the sense of ‘leaner’ low-energy force structures; weakening pressure for military arms racing; and a transformation in national security priorities to focus on climate mitigation, adapta- tion, and disaster response.
AB - This essay will investigate the question of how the renewable energy (RE) transition may reshape world politics. To date, most IPE scholars of the RE transition assume that renewables will simply substitute for fossil fuels and thereby continue similar patterns of economic growth and military competition that have characterized world politics over the past two centuries. However, they do not systematically con- sider what I call the ‘non-substitutability hypothesis,’ or the view that renewables will be unable to substitute for many of the services that fossil fuels provide for economies and militaries. In contrast, I will argue that if the non-substitutability hypothesis is correct, then a fully decarbonized global political economy would require a ‘Great Transformation,’ or a structural transformation in the political-eco- nomic and military bases of world order. In particular, I suggest that this would require two conjoined transitions: 1) a transition towards a ‘post-growth’ global pol- itical economy, or an economy that does not depend on continuous annual increases in GDP; and 2) a shift towards ‘demilitarization,’ in the sense of ‘leaner’ low-energy force structures; weakening pressure for military arms racing; and a transformation in national security priorities to focus on climate mitigation, adapta- tion, and disaster response.
KW - energy transition
KW - renewable energy
KW - climate change
KW - post-growth economics
U2 - 10.1080/09692290.2021.1980418
DO - 10.1080/09692290.2021.1980418
M3 - Article
SN - 0969-2290
VL - 29
SP - 1766
EP - 1781
JO - Review of International Political Economy
JF - Review of International Political Economy
IS - 5
ER -