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From Petro‐States to ‘new realities’: Perspectives on the Geographies of oil
Author(s) -
Kennedy Emilia
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geography compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.587
H-Index - 65
ISSN - 1749-8198
DOI - 10.1111/gec3.12127
Subject(s) - scarcity , capitalism , politics , resource scarcity , volatility (finance) , energy security , work (physics) , peak oil , state (computer science) , climate change , oil price , economy , political science , political economy , economics , natural resource economics , market economy , law , engineering , financial economics , mechanical engineering , ecology , electrical engineering , algorithm , renewable energy , computer science , monetary economics , biology
Recent “oil shocks” in the form of not only price volatility, but also catastrophic oil spills, growing acceptance of climate change, and public contestations over oil wars and major projects, have multiplied in recent years – indications that the spaces and practices of energy intensive social formations are becoming increasingly politicized objects of concern. The paper summarizes the petro‐state thesis and reviews recent contributions on the geographies of oil. While the petro‐state is useful for conceptualizing some aspects of the political dynamics of oil, it fails to capture some of the dynamics of concern in four major areas of work on geographies of oil: petro‐capitalism and economies of oil violence, socially produced scarcity, petro‐state(s) and expanded oil polities, and the “new realities of oil,” such as price volatility, changes in size and location of demand and supply, and the energy dilemmas associated with energy security and climate change. The conclusion discusses recent work that ties the political geographies of oil to geographies everyday life, pointing to a research agenda for integrating the consideration hydrocarbons into wider geographical inquiries.