Stephen G. Gross
My New Book Project — German Energy Policy in the Age of Oil and Atoms, 1945–2000
After 1945 West Germany, despite having no major international oil firm nor much domestic oil, built one of the world’s most resilient economies. It accomplished this during a period of frequent primary energy crises—coal strikes, the Suez Canal closure of 1956, the OPEC oil embargos, and the anti-Nuclear movement of the 1970s and 1980s. How did this happen, and at what cost to German democracy? In answering these questions, my book project aims to offer a new interpretation of German economic development by exploring the political economy of energy policy and energy crises, and by underscoring the dangers that come with a market-oriented approach to energy.
My book project will synthesize the history of all four energies that have been important to Germany since 1945—coal, nuclear power, petroleum, and natural gas. It traces how Germans began to conceptualize the supply of primary energy as a public good, and how they translated this idea into policies during the 1960s and 1970s. It will show how Germany prioritized energy affordability over security, giving its producers access to cheap fuel. It will explore how Germany’s market policies hurt unions, led to energy dependence on unstable states, and exacerbated inequality by passing costs on to consumers. And it will bring this synthesis to an American audience in the hopes that we will benefit from understanding how another, industrialized democracy has approached the trilemma of energy supply—balancing affordability with security and environmental sustainability.
