Oil, gas and international insecurity: tackling a self-fuelling fire

In the United States, European Union, and Asia fears about dependence on oil and gas imports from unstable regions have become a major theme of political debate. Daniel Litvin* argues that current policy responses to this challenge are focused on broad-brush measures such as reducing energy demand and strengthening military or diplomatic alliances with oil-producing regions. Comparatively little attention is devoted to the ‘self-fuelling fire’ that underlies the problem.