Does the polysemic nature of energy security make it a 'wicked' problem?
Governments around the world are expending considerable time and resources framing strategies and policies to deliver energy security. The term "energy security" has quietly slipped into the energy lexicon without any meaningful discourse about its meaning or assumptions. An examination of...
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| Format: | Conference Paper |
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World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology WASET
2009
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| Online Access: | http://www.waset.org/proceedings.php http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7116 |
| _version_ | 1848745273787940864 |
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| author | Chester, Lynne |
| author2 | Ardil, C. |
| author_facet | Ardil, C. Chester, Lynne |
| author_sort | Chester, Lynne |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Governments around the world are expending considerable time and resources framing strategies and policies to deliver energy security. The term "energy security" has quietly slipped into the energy lexicon without any meaningful discourse about its meaning or assumptions. An examination of explicit and inferred definitions finds that the concept is inherently slippery because it is polysemic in nature having multiple dimensions and taking on different specificities depending on the country (or continent), time frame or energy source to which it is applied. But what does this mean for policy makers? Can traditional policy approaches be used to address the problem of energy security or does its? polysemic qualities mean that it should be treated as a "wicked" problem? To answer this question, the paper assesses energy security against nine commonly cited characteristics of wicked policy problems and finds strong evidence of "wickedness". |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:14:45Z |
| format | Conference Paper |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-7116 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:14:45Z |
| publishDate | 2009 |
| publisher | World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology WASET |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-71162017-01-30T10:57:43Z Does the polysemic nature of energy security make it a 'wicked' problem? Chester, Lynne Ardil, C. wicked problems policy making energy security Governments around the world are expending considerable time and resources framing strategies and policies to deliver energy security. The term "energy security" has quietly slipped into the energy lexicon without any meaningful discourse about its meaning or assumptions. An examination of explicit and inferred definitions finds that the concept is inherently slippery because it is polysemic in nature having multiple dimensions and taking on different specificities depending on the country (or continent), time frame or energy source to which it is applied. But what does this mean for policy makers? Can traditional policy approaches be used to address the problem of energy security or does its? polysemic qualities mean that it should be treated as a "wicked" problem? To answer this question, the paper assesses energy security against nine commonly cited characteristics of wicked policy problems and finds strong evidence of "wickedness". 2009 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7116 http://www.waset.org/proceedings.php World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology WASET fulltext |
| spellingShingle | wicked problems policy making energy security Chester, Lynne Does the polysemic nature of energy security make it a 'wicked' problem? |
| title | Does the polysemic nature of energy security make it a 'wicked' problem? |
| title_full | Does the polysemic nature of energy security make it a 'wicked' problem? |
| title_fullStr | Does the polysemic nature of energy security make it a 'wicked' problem? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Does the polysemic nature of energy security make it a 'wicked' problem? |
| title_short | Does the polysemic nature of energy security make it a 'wicked' problem? |
| title_sort | does the polysemic nature of energy security make it a 'wicked' problem? |
| topic | wicked problems policy making energy security |
| url | http://www.waset.org/proceedings.php http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7116 |