Constraints and Opportunities Presented by the International System

Abstract

The importance of energy to a nation is most obvious at the international level. As a necessary input for both a strong military and a healthy economy, it is vital to the relative strength of a country. At this level, it is also most difficult to understand why a state would give up control of such a resource, especially for international relations scholars. Realists cannot comprehend a rational state relinquishing control. Even scholars of the interdependence school, though more accepting that other actors may be involved, find it puzzling, because of the economic implications for a country’s economic competitiveness (Porter, 1990, pp. 546–7).