Meghan L. O'Sullivan's Windfall is an overview of
modern politics from the perspective of energy. It discusses how the oil and gas boom that’s been driven by technological
advancement in extraction of energy resources is shaping modern politics in
America, Russia, China, Europe, and the Middle East. Windfall focuses on the
relationship between energy and foreign policy and the success (or failure) of
nations around the world through the ebb and flow of energy supply and revenues
that come from it.
Ten years before her book was written, scarcity in energy
drove high energy prices. Those prices in turn made it possible for
technological innovation to take hold and drive America, Canada, and a few
other nations to utilize new techniques to bring new supplies of oil to the
market. The subsequent drop in oil prices helped spur economic recovery in much
of the West but drove many of the traditional oil-producing nations to make
reforms or political hay in the name of maintaining relevance. O’Sullivan effectively argues the case of how
much of the current global economic boom was brought about by technological
innovation in oil and gas extraction, which lowered price and helped fuel
growth.
O’Sullivan tackles traditional energy sources like oil,
gas, and coal with remarkable effect and argues future political and policy
paths based on an oil and gas future. The lack of coverage in renewable energy
beyond passing references throughout the book did provide me some pause given the
likely increase in renewable energy production in the coming years. However,
for a current sense of the political and economic landscape and the
ramifications that oil and gas have had on it in recent decades, this book is a
very knowledgeable and well-researched account of what is going on.
