CHAPTER 5
From Fuel-Poor to Radiant: Morocco’s
Energy Geopolitics and Renewable Energy
Strategy
Sharlissa Moore
Introduction
Realist international relations scholars argue that nation-state politics and
bids for power over scarce energy resources trump energy economics
and other considerations. 1 Therefore, the international competition over
scarce energy resources is a zero-sum game, in which a win for one state’s
energy security is a loss for another state. 2 In contrast, scholars whose
work centers around market liberalization and globalization argue that
well-designed institutions and market economics can overcome geopolitical forces and yield win-win energy security outcomes. 3 A third perspective—critical geopolitics—argues that perceptions of geopolitical threats
do not entirely reflect objective reality but rather are socially constructed
S. Moore (B)
Michigan State University, James Madison College, East Lansing,
MI, USA
e-mail: moores60@msu.edu
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2021
R. Mills and L.-C. Sim (eds.), Low Carbon Energy in the Middle East
and North Africa, International Political Economy Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59554-8_5
121
From Fuel-Poor to Radiant: Morocco’s
Energy Geopolitics and Renewable Energy
Strategy
Sharlissa Moore
Introduction
Realist international relations scholars argue that nation-state politics and
bids for power over scarce energy resources trump energy economics
and other considerations. 1 Therefore, the international competition over
scarce energy resources is a zero-sum game, in which a win for one state’s
energy security is a loss for another state. 2 In contrast, scholars whose
work centers around market liberalization and globalization argue that
well-designed institutions and market economics can overcome geopolitical forces and yield win-win energy security outcomes. 3 A third perspective—critical geopolitics—argues that perceptions of geopolitical threats
do not entirely reflect objective reality but rather are socially constructed
S. Moore (B)
Michigan State University, James Madison College, East Lansing,
MI, USA
e-mail: moores60@msu.edu
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2021
R. Mills and L.-C. Sim (eds.), Low Carbon Energy in the Middle East
and North Africa, International Political Economy Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59554-8_5
121