The Energy Politics of the Asia-Pacific Region

Abstract

This chapter provides a critical overview of extant literature on energy politics in the Asia-Pacific region and proposes a future research agenda for the field. It argues that traditional, security-centric analyses of energy issues in Asia have been complemented in recent years by a small but growing body of literature that addresses environmental and social aspects of energy. While these nascent fields require further development, scholars have yet to comprehensively address crucial contemporary developments in international energy relations, among them the peace-building potential of transnational energy projects, the cybersecurity of energy infrastructure, and competition around deep-sea resources. Addressing these and other research gaps, the chapter formulates eleven broad focuses of the proposed future research agenda, including, among other topics, non-Western IR theories, Arctic resources, energy subsidies, and transnational infrastructure. These research areas will be placed in a rapidly evolving international system underpinned by a simultaneous increase in the securitization of energy and progress in regional cooperation, integration and trade.