ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical overview of the changing meaning of energy security and its proliferation in terms of referent objects and scale. It finds a concept that has evolved and proliferated in line with the growing importance of energy in society. Specifically, the meaning and definitions of energy security have proliferated from an initial understanding in terms of security of supply into a concept that also covers economic, environmental, human rights and systemic aspects. However, the literature does not explain the proliferation itself, nor does it specify the relativity inherent to these definitions or the person accountable for them. It is this proliferation and the inability to define energy security that are the subject of study in later chapters.
