ABSTRACT
In these post-communist times, this is about the only bit of Marx that is remembered. Unfortunately, on the topic of energy security – a field constituted whenever energy policy either falls or is pushed into the orbit of national security – Marx did not go far enough. His characterisation addressed only the second turn of the historical wheel, whereas we live today at the beginning of a third age of heightened awareness about energy security. It began in 2001 when energy security was installed as an official objective in China’s tenth five-year plan, and it is perhaps good news that the country that presently accounts for the lion’s share of the increase in global oil demand has embraced that idea. On the other hand, the need for a third appearance also suggests that not enough was achieved during earlier comings. The spectre of repeated under-achievement therefore begs the question of what comes next in Marx’s descending sequence from tragedy to farce. The musical?
