Jeff Colgan: 'Double Vision: Energy, Ukraine, and International Order' (Princeton RWO)

On February 27, 2023, the Reimagining World Order (RWO) research community at Princeton University (PIIRS), together with the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance, hosted Professor Jeff Colgan (Brown University) for this year's fifth meeting of its World Order Colloquium.

The restrictions on oil and natural gas sales associated with the 2022 Russia-Ukraine war remind us that energy is a core dimension of international relations. How do energy and international order relate to each other? Scholarly views of energy and international order is story of double vision, with an international political economy (IPE) lens and a Security lens. When considering either current events associated with Ukraine or the longer history of energy politics over the last century, a behavioral pattern within IPE suggests one narrative, whereas the Security story is quite dissimilar, leading to a sharply different view of international order. To do better, we need a conceptual underpinning for international order than can handle both IPE and Security perspectives. Professor Colgan’s central claim here is that the Ukraine war is bringing together two subsystems of international energy politics—one highlighted by IPE, the other by Security studies—that have operated largely independently of each other since about 1973.

Jeff Colgan is the Richard Holbrooke Professor of Political Science at Brown University and Director of the Climate Solutions Lab at the Watson Institute of Public and International Affairs. His research focuses on international order, especially as it relates to energy and the environment. His recent book "Partial Hegemony: Oil Politics and International Order" (Oxford University Press, 2021) investigates how countries and other actors have been able to sustain meaningful international governing arrangements to solve tough problems, and uses that history to consider climate change. His previous book was "Petro-Aggression: When Oil Causes War" (Cambridge University Press, 2013). His research has been published in International Organization, International Security, International Studies Quarterly, World Politics, Foreign Affairs, and other journals. Prior to Brown University, he worked at McKinsey & Company, the World Bank, and American University. Professor Colgan has a Bachelor’s degree in engineering physics from McMaster University, a Master’s in Public Policy from UC Berkeley, and a PhD from Princeton University.