Energy is often neglected as a central element in society, development and security. Each increment in economic development makes humans ever more dependent on supplies of affordable energy, and no factor today is as central to the basic viability and functioning of all aspects of society and the economy as energy. The world is currently witnessing four major shifts in global energy flows: the rise of the developing world as the primary source of demand; the emergence of new sources of supply; the diversification of the primary sources of energy; and the rise of new urgency around energy efficiency. This lecture will examine these dynamics from the point of view of their effect on global security: how established and rising powers are shaping their strategic calculations around the new global energy dynamics.
Speaker:
Michael Wesley, Professor of National Security and Director of the School of International, Political and Strategic Studies at the Australian National University
Professor Wesley’s career has spanned academia, with previous appointments at the University of New South Wales, Griffith University, the University of Hong Kong, Sun Yat-sen University, the University of Sydney and government, where he worked as Assistant Director General for Transnational Issues at the Office of National Assessments. He has also worked at think tanks, in which he was Executive Director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Professor Wesley has also served as the Editor in Chief of the Australian Journal of International Affairs.
Comments:
Pami Aalto, Professor, Research Collegium, University of Tampere
Antto Vihma, Senior Research Fellow, the Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Chair:
Mika Aaltola, Programme Director, the Finnish Institute of International Affairs
