Dr. Jörg Friedrichs is University Lecturer in Politics at the University of Oxford. He has authored four books, including most recently The Future Is Not What It Used To Be: Climate Change and Energy Scarcity (MIT Press, August 2013). He has also published in important journals, including most recently an article on the carbon curse with Energy Policy (together with Oliver Inderwildi).
Peak oil futures: same crisis, different responses
Peak oil theorists predict an impending terminal decline of world oil production, with no adequate alternate resource and technology available to replace oil as the backbone resource of industrial society. Instead of endlessly debating whether peak oil theorists are right or wrong, let us simply ask what would happen if they were right. Based on historical case studies I suggest that there would be different reactions in different parts of the world, ranging from predatory militarism to authoritarian retrenchment and the mobilization of local resilience.
May 6, 2010