Renewable Electrification in Geopolitical Contested Settings: Theoretical Insights and Practical Implications (Call for Papers for a Conference and a Special Issue)

Jul 23, 2019 | Geopolitics and Energy Research Group

The Geopolitics and Energy Research Group (GERG) will be holding an international conference on renewable electrification in geopolitical conflict settings from December 18 to 20, 2019 in Jerusalem. The conference will provide a unique opportunity to theorize and examine the drivers, trajectories, and implications of renewable energy projects in places where territorial and interstate conflict already persists. A selection of papers presented in the conference will be revised and subjected to peer review with the aim of publishing a special issue on the theme of the conference.Conference Theme In recent years, there has been growing interest in the implications of renewable energy transition for energy security. These positive and negative implications are often analyzed in two distinct frameworks. In the first, renewable energy is examined for the ways in which it impacts individuals, communities, and countries in terms of availability, accessibility, affordability, and accessibility. In the second framework, renewable energy is examined in terms of its effect on geopolitics.  While there is wide recognition that energy security and geopolitics affect each other with respect to fossil energy resources and other minerals, each literature strand stands alone when it comes to renewable energy transition. This conference and the subsequent special issue seek to connect these two bodies of knowledge by focusing on the setting of renewable energy projects in places where territorial and interstate conflict already persists. Areas of territorial dispute have special characteristics that can affect the deployment of renewable energy; the characteristics of renewable energy, on the other hand, can affect these areas and the potential for cooperation. Regarding the former, territorial disputes can, for example, harm opportunities for establishing solar fields, as military requirements may conflict with wind turbines that can obstruct flights and radio communication. Conflict zones also tend to inhibit the investments needed for renewable projects.  In the latter case of renewable energy affecting territorial disputes, the characteristics of renewable energy can both intensify and pacify the conflict and thus both incentivize and disincentivize cooperation: for example, decentralized wind and solar production reduce the sensitivities and vulnerabilities that armed conflicts and cyber-attacks have on centralized energy production. At the same time, while wind and solar energy increase energy independence, they reduce the need to cooperate with other countries and communities, cooperation often found around shared natural resources like water. We argue that understanding the two-way causality and its interplay with the two bodies of knowledge (energy security and energy geopolitics) is essential for policy and theory development relating to strategies for sustainable renewable transition and the accompanying opportunities, risks, and uncertainties.Drawing on a variety of empirical cases and theoretical insights, the conference will explain the relationship between renewable electrification, conflicts, and territorial disputes and analyze the causal relations, the conditions both permitting and prohibiting renewable transformation, and the implications for conflict and cooperation. It will also seek to facilitate a better understanding of this interaction with innovation literature on the diffusion of technology in time and space. The ensuing special issue will attempt to develop a new theory concerning peace studies, security, and renewable innovation.   Suggested Topics We are looking for papers that showcase scholarship examining the two-way causality between renewables and territorial disputes and its interplay with three bodies of knowledge: energy security, energy geopolitics, and technological innovation. Papers should unpack the interplay between renewable energy and geopolitics while using new models, theories, and methodologies. They should also cover practices that overcome or enhance the causality between renewables, territorial disputes, and cooperation. We are also seeking theoretical contributions that provide frameworks for understanding how different disciplines (e.g., political and critical geography, political ecology, international relations, and public policy) can explain if, how, and under what conditions security studies, geopolitics, peace studies, and technological innovation interact with each other on the topic of renewable energy. Suggested topics for papers (non-exhaustive list): 

Renewables shape territorial disputes/claims 

• How do renewables shape territorial claims on land, air, and water?
• Can these territorial claims be overcome using political, technical and planning mechanisms, and if so, how?
• What is the impact of renewables on sovereignty claims and perceptions? 
• What are the effects of renewables on cooperation/conflict over territory and beyond and on post-conflict recovery and reconciliation?
• In what ways is energy and geopolitical interdependency perception shaped by the transition to renewables? 

Territorial disputes shape renewables

• Do territorial disputes affect the competition between renewables and security-driven usage of land, air, and water?
• Who could and should bear the security costs of developing renewable infrastructure? How are costs shared and allocated in various cases, why are they shared this way, and what are the implications?
• What is the impact of geopolitics on financial investments in renewables by the private sector, the state, and other actors, such as donors, multilateral banks, etc.?
• How do perceptions of energy independency and dependency impact the deployment of renewables?
• What are the modes of energy renewable diffusion in the context of disputes and conflicts? (e.g. bottom-up household level, low tech/remote control renewable maintenance, etc.)   
• What is the border effect on asymmetrical energy and renewable regulations?