The fragmented governance of the global energy economy: a legal-institutional analysis

Abstract

The objective of this article is to promote global energy security by evaluating the existing patchwork of institutions and processes linked to the governance of the global energy economy. What we mean by ‘global energy security’ is the satisfaction of humankind’s energy needs to maintain lifestyle levels in the developed world and to promote development and improve the quality of life across the world, including least-developed and developing countries. The article focuses on the global energy economy, its fragmented governance and its implications for global energy security. Inter-State governance over the global energy economy is neither global nor cohesive. Rather, the various aspects pertinent to it—among others, economic development, climate change, trade, investment protection, finance and human security—are managed in a disparate and disjointed manner. What is more, the absence of a global energy security regime to address ‘global’—ie humankind’s collective—energy needs justifies the need to investigate the implications of the current state of play for global energy security. To do so, the article will examine all relevant institutions and processes linked to the global energy economy in order to assess their individual and combined implications for global energy security. This article therefore aims to promote an understanding of, and an attitude towards, the global energy economy that acknowledges that it is a composite affair with a high degree of interplay between its constituent parts, and that there are systemic reasons why the current state of play fails to address global energy security needs. The aim of the article is to perform an extensive mapping-out and analysis of the institutions and processes linked to the governance of the global energy economy, and of those purportedly concerned with global energy security, in order to answer the following three questions: