Opinion Page Media Depictions of Renewable Energy Geopolitics and Energy Security

Chinedu C. Nsude, Victoria A. Johnson, Claire M. Burch and Darren E. Purcell

Social Science Quarterly, 2025, vol. 106, issue 6

Abstract: Objective The geopolitics of energy has been prominent in political rhetoric since the 1970s, with an emphasis on energy security. This study asks how renewable energy is framed through the lens of formal geopolitics on the opinion pages of four national newspapers in the United States, as opposed to news coverage, and links the frames to wider geopolitical concerns surrounding energy as a whole. Methods Drawing from the Factiva database, 144 editorials and op‐eds from 1980 to 2021 were included in a corpus for content analysis with an inductive, team‐based, coding process. Results Positive narratives of renewable energy and energy security were generic but invoked energy independence. Negative narratives highlighted the sector's lack of capacity. Other framings included reducing dependence of foreign energy sources, contributions to environmental protection, and global economic competition to develop renewable technologies. Discussion Our analysis shows that renewable energy technologies were framed as contributors to energy security, helping reduce dependence on foreign energy, assisting with climate change mitigation, and contributing to U.S. dominance in renewable energy technology.

Date: 2025
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