Reacting to anticipations: energy crises and energy policy in the 1970s ; an introduction

Abstract

Changes in the energy sector cannot be sufficiently described as reactions to past and present energy problems. Rather, politicians and companies alike always react to the anticipation of future challenges. Sharing this assumption, the articles in this HSR Special Issue reexamine the energy crises of the 1970s. Their assessments broaden the temporal and spatial scope of analysis and integrate various energy resources into the picture, while examining how to situate the first and second oil crises within the 1970s and the contemporary history of the industrialized world as a whole.