The Global Game of Coal

Coal occupies a large share in the global energy basket. This book explores the ‘coal game’ within the context of shifting energy geopolitics, the ‘resource war’, and the debates over climate change and energy security.

Politics is a prime arena for game playing. Collaboration, competition, confrontation, and their combinations are ingredients in bilateral and multilateral dealings. The book deciphers the interactions within the coal world by resorting to the time-tested term ‘global game’. Joe Manchin in the United States, Vladimir Putin in Russia, Scott Morrison in Australia, and Gautam Adani in Australia and India have been accomplished players in the game of coal. The book looks at the coal assets and policies of major coal exporters and importers like the United States, Russia, India, Australia, and China and provides insights into the fierce contestations involved both in local and global politics and commerce over coal, climate, and security. The author discusses the role coal has played in the industrialisation of nations, prescriptions to the problem of coal use, and varied scenarios portraying its future.

The third volume in a trilogy on the use of fossil fuels, this book on coal will be of great interest to students and researchers of energy studies, international relations, environment and climate change, energy and geopolitics, security, and strategic studies. It will also be useful to policymakers, legislators, and environmentalists.

Gulshan Dietl retired as a professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, where she also served as the director of the Gulf Studies Programme and the chairperson of the Centre for West Asian and African Studies. She has held several international positions and fellowships.