American and British Democracy in Managing the Oil Crisis - Essay Example

Political Science s Submitted by s: American and British democracy in managing the oil crisis Britain and the US wereadvanced economies in 2008 that had large financial sectors, risky housing bubbles as well as heavy consumer debts and similar government deficits in regard to GDP1. These nations experienced severe crises in the banking sector that forced their administrations to bear huge extra liabilities through having to guarantee their largest banks. The two economies employed widely similar economic policies for a period of two years after the Lehman crisis that occurred in 2008. These policies entailed cutting the rates of interest to zero, allowing exponential expansion of budget deficits as well as financing of the resultant debt through printing new money2. These two economies functioned in almost the same manner and their behavior was also almost similar immediately after the crisis and during the period when they were recovering from the crisis. Energy has been part of debates all over the world especially in regard to development in Europe and America3. Challenges associated with energy involve sufficiency, security, sustainability as well as the cost of energy where the prices of hydrocarbons during the recession that occurred recently in Europe and the US created a situation where costs transport and electricity as well as gas at the center of numerous debates. The US energy policy is informed by various objects including federal and local entities that deal with aspects like producing, distributing and consuming energy through creating codes along with standards that will govern gas mileage4. The policy concerned with energy may entail laws, international agreements, subsidies and incentives to investments as well as regulations meant to conserve energy and other public policy approaches. Various mandates come into being through time starting that petrol will never cost more than a dollar along with “the united states will never again import as much oil as it did in 1977”5. However, there have not been any detailed long-term energy policies that have been proposed regardless of the concerns associated with this failure. Various Energy Policy Legislations have been enacted between 1992 and 2007, and they include numerous provisions dwelling on conservation like the Energy Star program, together with energy development involving grants and tax incentives directed renewable and non-renewable energy6. Critics have argued that the federal energy policies that have been in place from 1973 have been riddled by crisis mentality thinking which has promoted costly quick fixes and short-term solutions that have no consideration for reality in the market and prevailing technology. Instead of developing stable guidelines to support essential research while leaving adequate scope for entrepreneurship and innovation in America, Congress along with various presidential administrations have constantly supported the policies that provide politically convenient solutions. These solutions are characterized by doubtful prospects since they do not appropriately consider the dollar costs, national security and environmental costs of their activities. Incentive initiatives that are intended to maintain energy efficiency in specific states also have a considerable part in the general policies concerned with energy in the US7. The Kyoto protocol was not endorsed by the US since the nation preferred to let the market encourage carbon dioxide reductions to decrease global warming that will need carbon dioxide emission taxation8. The US administration under President Obama came up with a robust energy policy restructuring that included the requirement for a decrease of carbon dioxide emission characterized by a cap and trade initiative that may assist in encouraging energy development in a renewable and sustainable manner. Innovative technologies including fracking have assisted the US to resume its previous position among the major oil producers on the globe. On the other hand, the British energy policy is designed around an Energy White Paper of 2007 among other Plans that build on prior work that comprises of the 2003 Energy White Paper9. This policy is driven by the Department of Energy and Climate Change with is present focus of policies being directed at the reformation of the electricity market, coming up with smart meters as well as improvement of energy efficiency using Green Deal. The British energy policy deals with producing and distributing electricity, usage of transport fuel together with modes of heating. The policy is also aware of the fact that “energy is essential in almost every aspect of our lives and for the success of our economy.”10 According to the UK energy policy, the main challenges are dealing with climate change through lessening of carbon dioxide discharges in Britain and the rest of the world, and to ensure the security, cleanliness and affordability of energy as the country becomes more reliant on imported fuel. The energy reviews of 2006 brought into effect again the forecasts of newer nuclear power plants in Britain but after a judicial review was requested, some aspects of the review emerged to be seriously flawed and also misleading. Therefore, as a consequence, plans of building innovative enhancements of nuclear power stations were declared illegal at the time. The Energy Bill that was passed in 2008 updated the legislative structure in Britain to mirror the current policy concerned with the energy market but it experienced challenges in regard to climatic changes and supply security. The main aspects of the legislation deal with nuclear and renewable power as well as oil among others. Systems that are meant to inspire investments in nuclear power in a newer supervisory setting were also published in the White Paper. Later in 2008, the administration came up with the Department of Energy and Climate Change that was intended to consolidate energy policies with climatic change policies. Case study: Comparison between British parliamentary and US representative democracies Debates concerning the form of democracy, between representative and parliamentary, that has the ability to manage a worldwide energy crisis in the best way has been an issue of a lot of concern. Presently, this debate has become increasingly heated regarding the type of government that has the best ability to deal with energy issues or others such as another gulf war. For example, both forms of government may consider an introduction of speed limits on highways as a result of the energy crisis that is not getting better. However, on an interesting note, the two democracies may have varying approaching towards any policy-making programs as a consequence of their dissimilarities in governance11. Additionally, every one of the democracies has associated benefits and weaknesses. The two nations use varying structures of governance where the US uses a representative system while Britain favors a parliamentary system12. The entities tasked with developing policies agree that a reduction in the speed limit may be useful in conserving oil. In the US, the national energy policy is an initiative that is intended to harness all the resources in the country in order to improve the quickly deteriorating future of energy. There are no basic solutions to this issue and progress needs conceited efforts for a prolonged period of time13. The US may be considered as the best democracy to deal with the energy crisis and in order to avoid serious socio-economic ramifications that are associated with declines in oil production, the Hirsch report of 2005 put emphasis on alternatives that will phase out the petroleum with time14. This was the same as the study that was proposed for Sweden with mitigation measures that may entail conserving, substituting and using unconventional fuels. Since mitigation may reduce the use of traditional sources of petroleum, it may also have an impact on the timing of peak oil as well as the manner in which the Hubbert curve is shaped15. The energy policies in the US have the capacity to be reformed and this will result in more energy intensity16 through programs such as the Energy Independence and Security Act that was passed in 200717. An additional mitigation measure that has been instigated by the US energy policy is the creation of a cache that consists of secure fuel reserves such as the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve. There have been reports that America will go past Saudi Arabia as the largest oil producer in 2010 and develop self-sufficiency in regard to energy by 2030 as a result of enhanced drilling technologies, alternative fuel and decreasing consumption that have created a decline in the needs to import oil. In the event that prices remain competitive, the US may continue to use oil from Canada and other nations that are nearby. The US government’s option that is meant to insulate the country’s energy markets from fluctuations in the global prices continue to multiply as the domestic production continues to increase18. With a blend of energy autonomy and economic necessity, there are chances that the US government will be more inward looking in the same manner Britain was initially. If the US reduces its need for foreign oil as well as its increasingly pressing need to rein in federal borrowing, the political structure will be obliged to reduce the amount if spending19. Each year, the US uses a quarter of all the energy that is produced in the globe but this noticeable usage cannot last for eternity20. In this regard, the Department of Energy came up with Renewable Energy production Incentive as a component of an incorporated approach in the Energy Policy Act that was passed in 199221. This legislation promotes enhancements in generating and utilizing electricity that is derived from renewable sources while furthering the advances of technologies associated with renewable energy. The environmental imperative that was released by the Renewable Energy Policy Project is a strategy meant for the energy market to use renewable energy in order to avoid the severe effects on the environment as a result of using fossil fuels. Bibliography Baker, Maggie. Before the Lights Go out Conquering the Energy Crisis before It Conquers Us. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. Chiras, Daniel D. Environmental Science. 9th ed. Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning, 2013. Coe, Neil M. The Economic Geography of the UK. London: Sage Publications, 2010. Dupont, Andre. An American Solution for Reducing Carbon Emissions, Averting Global Warming, Creating Green Energy and Sustainable Employment. Falls Church, VA: Dupont Group, 2009. Fanchi, John R. 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