The spiritual energy of geopolitics
J. Peter Burgess
Geopolitics of Risk Working Papers 3/2020 - June 2020
Energy is the classic strategic resource and thus one of the earliest objects of modern geopolitics. This article proposes an approach that steps away from the geopolitical grasp of energy as a strategic substance, and develops an analysis of energy an actor. From the first generation vitalism in Bergson ‘creative energy’ to contemporary forms of affect theory, contemporary theory offers tools for under energy as the motivational force in for perception and consciousness, sentiments and sensation, reason and reaction. Energy moves both battleships and human spirit. Yet how are these two expressions linked together. This article will propose a new materialist analysis that will make visible the continuity between endless human energy, on the one hand, and non-renewable energy, on the other. It will argue that the politics of non-renewable energy serve to cover over the human energy in its midst, in order to let the discourse strategic quantification of energy resources to maintain its dominance as a measure of the success of human project