ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the constructed geographical framing of the Mediterranean region to examine energy integration from the perspectives of energy geopolitics and energy justice. Scholars theorize energy geopolitics as the combative quest by nations for scarce resources, or as a concept that is unnecessarily fixated on zero-sum games while overlooking institutions’ potential to legislate win-win outcomes, or as a concept constructed by actor perspectives. A critical geopolitics approach illustrates that advocates of solar electricity exports portrayed North Africa as possessing a geographical advantage over Europe for solar generation on specific parcels of land—or renewable energy terroir—while downplaying the geopolitical risk of European energy dependence on North Africa through an Orientalist framing of North African land as abundant, barren, and devoid of people. These geographical framings relate closely to energy injustice, including a lack of recognition and spatial justice for citizens living in desert landscapes, distributive injustice in energy access, and human insecurity relating to the politics of immigration. Energy security challenges in the twenty-first century go beyond addressing the insecurities stemming from unevenly distributed resources and relate instead to complex debates about sustainable development and energy justice.
