Electrostates, Petrostates, and National Security

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With advances in clean energy technology, the world is in the midst of a significant energy transition. Even as these new energy technologies come online, much of the old fossil fuel energy system will remain in place. In this transitional phase, China has embraced the new clean energy system while the United States has doubled down on the old fossil fuel system. Both countries have done so in the name of energy and national security. But the new clean energy system offers substantial and underappreciated security benefits that were not conceivable under the old energy system. Internally, a clean energy system enables a country to compartmentalize the physical and economic aspects of its energy system, shielding it from international market fluctuations.

Externally, a country that monopolizes clean energy tech production can weaponize that technology to its own national security ends. While it is too soon to say exactly how the global energy transition will pan out, and its consequences for the United States’ and China’s energy and national security, the war in Iran has illuminated some of the United States’ continued vulnerabilities and China’s growing advantages.

Wind Farm in Guangling County, Shanxi. Source: Wikipedia