The Geopolitics of Renewable Energy Avoided climate change. Reduced greenhouse gas emissions as a result of expanded use of renewable energy should logically reduce the risk of conflict and instability that climate change would otherwise generate. One region where large-scale deployment of renewable energy may have significant geopolitical consequences is Africa. Sustainable energy access. Access to modern forms of energy is one of the preconditions for achieving sustainable development. The geopolitical impacts of access to energy are important, as such access can contribute to lasting solutions to instability and conflict. It is possible that renewables not only have an impact on geopolitics but that geopolitics, particularly in risky and institutionally unstable environments, can also influence investments in renewable energy by increasing the cost of capital. These categories do not offer a comprehensive assessment of the ways in which renewables affect geopolitics. The purpose of this paper is to provide food for thought for a broader discussion on the ways in which greater renewable energy and geopolitics intersect. Accordingly, the final section (Section III) suggests areas and directions for future research.

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Conventional ways of viewing conflict as destructive and irrational have constrained the thinking of policy makers about the possibility of constructive intervention and development strategies during wartime. This paper, in looking at the experience of Sri Lanka, considers various policy choices, as well as their costs, open to some governments during times of strife. Evidence from Sri Lanka refutes the notion that government services cannot be effective in wartime while simultaneously drawing attention to the role that alternative societal structures play in alleviating human costs. This paper demonstrates that a complex network of providers of market, public, and civil entitlements can evolve in certain wartime contexts and identifies how the mode of warfare employed can create or destroy such a possibility. The study concludes that the opportunities for constructive policy making during wartime are greater— and the responsibilities of the agents at war broader—than is commonly thought.