Quest in Search of Itself

{
  "authors": [
    "Deborah Gordon"
  ],
  "type": "legacyinthemedia",
  "centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
  "centers": [
    "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
  ],
  "collections": [],
  "englishNewsletterAll": "ctw",
  "nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
  "primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
  "programAffiliation": "SCP",
  "programs": [
    "Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics"
  ],
  "projects": [
    "Carnegie Oil Initiative"
  ],
  "regions": [
    "North America",
    "Caucasus",
    "Western Europe"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Climate Change"
  ]
}

In The Media

Quest in Search of Itself

Charting a global energy future requires that world navigate the inherent risks and challenges that oil, gas, nuclear, and other energy sources portend.

By Deborah Gordon

Published on Sep 1, 2011

Source: Finance & Development

Quest in Search of ItselfDaniel Yergin’s stimulating new book, The Quest, offers an informative guide to how energy shapes and is shaped by global economics, power, and security. Yergin has taken on a large and complex subject. But he makes his lengthy book accessible to a broad audience by developing his analysis through hundreds of short vignettes, many of which are rich in historical details. General readers will learn a great deal about the wide world of energy on which we depend so completely—how it came to be the way it is and how it works. Energy experts, while not the primary audience, will gain a greater appreciation for the complex interplay of technology, markets, environments, and politics in today’s energy debate.

Yergin begins his story on December 31, 1991, the day the former Soviet Union ceased to exist. Readers may wonder (as I did) why a story about energy begins in Russia, out of the spotlight of the infamous Middle East. The reason is that this energy superpower is struggling with the many blessings and curses of an oil and gas economy. Russia has the potential to redraw the world map of fossil fuels, but it still has to get its own house in order. It must become much more efficient, orderly, and organized. And Russia must dial down domestic dependence on natural resources to capitalize on its vast natural resource wealth.

About the Author

Deborah Gordon

Former Director and Senior Fellow, Energy and Climate Program

Gordon was director of Carnegie’s Energy and Climate Program, where her research focuses on oil and climate change issues in North America and globally.

Recent Work

Article
Petroleum Companies Need a Credible Climate Plan
- Deborah Gordon, Stephen D. Ziman
Article
Advancing Public Climate Engineering Disclosure
- Deborah Gordon, Smriti Kumble, David Livingston

Climate Change North America Caucasus Western Europe

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

More Work from Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center

Commentary
Diwan
Lake Qaraoun and Migratory Pressures
Lebanon’s largest water reservoir is a house of many mansions when it comes to converging failures.
Camille Ammoun
Article
Afro-Iraqis, Climate Change, and Environmental Injustice in Basra
Afro-Iraqis experience political, economic, and social marginalization and discrimination, which exposes the poorest members of the community to the harsh realities of the region’s climate disaster.
Zeinab Shuker
Article
Kuwait’s Bidun in the Face of Climate Change are Invisible, yet Exposed
Mitigating the repercussions of climate change in Kuwait is crucial for lessening economic disparities and achieving social justice.
Courtney Freer
Paper
“Greening” the Maghreb or Exploiting It?
Unless the European Union-led energy transition provides economic development to Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, the process may be perceived as a new form of extraction.
Yasmine Zarhloule
Commentary
Diwan
The Gulf Conflict and the South Caucasus
In an interview, Sergei Melkonian discusses Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s careful balancing act among the United States, Israel, and Iran.
Armenak Tokmajyan

More Work from Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center

Commentary

Diwan

Lake Qaraoun and Migratory Pressures

Lebanon’s largest water reservoir is a house of many mansions when it comes to converging failures.

Camille Ammoun

Article

Afro-Iraqis, Climate Change, and Environmental Injustice in Basra

Afro-Iraqis experience political, economic, and social marginalization and discrimination, which exposes the poorest members of the community to the harsh realities of the region’s climate disaster.

Zeinab Shuker

Article

Kuwait’s Bidun in the Face of Climate Change are Invisible, yet Exposed

Mitigating the repercussions of climate change in Kuwait is crucial for lessening economic disparities and achieving social justice.

Courtney Freer

Paper

“Greening” the Maghreb or Exploiting It?

Unless the European Union-led energy transition provides economic development to Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, the process may be perceived as a new form of extraction.

Yasmine Zarhloule

Commentary

Diwan

The Gulf Conflict and the South Caucasus

In an interview, Sergei Melkonian discusses Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s careful balancing act among the United States, Israel, and Iran.

Armenak Tokmajyan