Does security push democracy out of energy governance?

Kacper Szulecki

Research output: Contribution to Book/Report typesChapterpeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

Is energy democracy constrained or empowered by talking security? To answer this question, we must explore the relationship of (energy) democracy to (energy) security, drawing on the experience of Critical Security Studies. This chapter seeks to explore three theoretical dichotomies. The first is the perception of security as something inherently negative or positive and how it can play either a disciplining or an emancipating function. Further, the chapter looks at the change and non-change that security invocations bring about, as well as the significance of this for the transition toward a decarbonized world and the possibility of broadening the scope of democratic governance along the way. Finally, it looks at two possibilities of security’s cession from “politics as usual”—either in the form of Carl Schmitt’s “exceptional politics,” which has a clear authoritarian and anti-democratic edge, or Hannah Arendt’s “politics of the extraordinary,” providing a boost to democratic legitimacy and bringing meaning back to politics. Merged with a human security perspective, this can be a normative blueprint for thinking about the way security concerns can unlock the democratizing and emancipatory potential of the socio-technical transition toward a low carbon energy system.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationEnergy Democracies for Sustainable futures
PublisherElsevier
Pages293-299
Number of pages7
ISBN (Electronic)9780128227961
ISBN (Print)9780128227978
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2022
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Critical Security Studies
  • Emancipation
  • Energy democracy
  • Energy security
  • Securitization

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