About the Book

This Adelphi Paper will provide an assessment of the security implications for Asia of energy resource scarcity. One such implication is the prospect of competition among the increasingly energy-hungry countries of Asia for oil and gas supplies, and the concomitant potential for intensified strategic rivalry and military conflict. Another important theme explored in the paper is the danger that expanding reliance on nuclear energy, as an alternative to diminishing and polluting fossil fuels, could pose a proliferation risk and possibly even lead to nuclear war. Finally, political decision-making about the use of particular energy resources (eg oil, gas, uranium and renewables) and the debate on the security implications of climate change will also be addressed.