Discursive Overlap and Conflictive Fragmentation of Risk and Security in the Geopolitics of Energy

Luis Fernández Carril, Roeb García Arrazola and Julio E. Rubio
Additional contact information
Luis Fernández Carril: Humanistic Studies, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico City Campus, Mexico, D.F. 14380, Mexico
Roeb García Arrazola: Sustainable Development, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico City Campus, Mexico, D.F. 14380, Mexico
Julio E. Rubio: Metropolitan Mexico City Zone Directorate of Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico, D.F. 14380, Mexico

Sustainability, 2013, vol. 5, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: As it touches all aspects of human activity and society in general, energy has become an object of discourse. Two main discourses have formed on the use of energy: risk discourse and security discourse. While environmental changes and oil depletion continue, a new application for the term security has appeared: energy security. This concept can be interpreted within the terms of risk discourse, which is oriented towards rational consensus and decision making, or as an exercise of power, sovereignty and hegemony. The boundaries between interpretations are often unclear. Thus, in an institutional framework that has fragmented principles, norms and rules, opposing discourses will overlap. Political agents and institutions deploy strategies based on these discourses. With this overlapping of discourses, the performative powers of different institutions clash, thus creating conflictive fragmentation in a governance architecture. The purpose of this investigation is to analyze the use of, replication of, and ambiguities surrounding the concept of energy security, so as to understand how and why these discourses overlap and the profound consequences that this overlap may have for present and future energy use, environmental negotiations, and political climate.

Keywords: energy security; discourse; risk society; conflictive fragmentation; climate negotiations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/5/3/1095/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/5/3/1095/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:5:y:2013:i:3:p:1095-1113:d:24082

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().