Description
By (author) Krane Jim
Short /annotation:
Jim Krane takes readers inside the monarchies to consider the conundrum facing the Gulf states. He traces the history of their energy use and policies, looking in particular at how energy subsidies have distorted demand.
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After the discovery of oil in the 1930s, the Gulf monarchies—Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Bahrain—went from being among the world’s poorest and most isolated places to some of its most ostentatiously wealthy. To maintain support, the ruling sheikhs provide their subjects with boundless cheap energy, unwittingly leading to some of the highest consumption rates on earth. Today, as summertime temperatures set new records, the Gulf’s rulers find themselves caught in a dilemma: can they curb their profligacy without jeopardizing the survival of some of the world’s last absolute monarchies?
In Energy Kingdoms, Jim Krane takes readers inside these monarchies to consider their conundrum. He traces the history of the Gulf states’ energy use and policies, looking in particular at how energy subsidies have distorted demand. Oil exports are the lifeblood of their political-economic systems—and the basis of their strategic importance—but domestic consumption has begun eating into exports while climate change threatens to render their desert region uninhabitable. At risk are the sheikhdoms’ way of life, their relations with their Western protectors, and their political stability in a chaotic region. Backed by rich fieldwork and deep knowledge of the region, Krane expertly lays out the hard choices that Gulf leaders face to keep their states viable.
Table of contents:
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Before Oil
2.The Oil Age Arrives
3. The Big Payback
4. From Energy Poverty to Energy Extremism
5. Unnaturally Cool
6. We Have a Serious Problem
7. Iran and Dubai Lead the Way
8. Shifting Gears in Saudi Arabia
9. The Politics of Reform
Conclusion: The Climate Hedge
Notes
Index
Review quote:
Bravo to Jim Krane for his thoughtful and well-researched book that explains the important roles oil has played in the domestic economies and internal politics of the Persian Gulf states, and the hard choices they will have to make as they try to wean their citizens from a troubling reliance on it.
Review quote:
Jim Krane’s compelling narrative provides a ringside view of the economic and social transformation underway in the Gulf region. His realism leaves you in no doubt as to the scale of the challenge and the new politics rising to meet it.
Review quote:
Is it possible that oil exports from Gulf countries could be seriously threatened by skyrocketing demand in domestic consumption? In his scintillating book, Jim Krane offers a probing analysis of how these oil-rich nations are grappling with the lavish energy subsidies that are intrinsic to their political stability and modern state building.
Review quote:
Jim Krane is a marvelous storyteller, and his book provides one of the best views of the world of oil as lived by everyday Arab Persian Gulf citizens, not just policy wonks. In the process, he gores a few sacred cows of academia, like the rentier state theory or the condescending dismissal of local Gulf achievements. The book is a must for all who have an interest in the impact energy has on the societies of the Gulf—and, by extension, on ours.
Review quote:
Perhaps never before has the energy industry played such a pivotal role in the world’s economic, geopolitical, and environmental future. At the heart of it all is the Persian Gulf region. Energy Kingdoms is a timely take on the challenges and complexities faced by the leaders of the Persian Gulf kingdoms, as well as the knock-on effects for the rest of the world.
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