The Geopolitics of Energy in East Asia: Regional and Global Implications of Security and Governance

The past three decades have witnessed a spectacular and unsustainable increase in the global demand for energy. This trend acquires a special significance in East Asia as a result of the region’s economic growth dependency on heavy industrialization, its fragile security architecture and the traditional rejection of regional States to delegating power to supranational entities. In spite of the latter, the constitutional structures and institutions of East Asia’s regional order have undergone a process of gradual reinforcement since the early nineties. This book analyzes the impact of the region’s energy needs on both regional and global security and governance.