Stakeholders in the international economy have long considered energy a crucial aspect of national sovereignty - a commodity inherently political in nature. Because of its contentious nature, energy and natural resources have been the source of conflicts for a millennia. With the sharp increase of the international price of oil and natural gas from 2002-2008, energy subsidization in the energy-rich exporting countries assumed center stage. A narrow focus on this new dynamic, however, obscures the basic issue that developed and developing countries tend to view energy in fundamentally contradictory ways. For developed, OECD countries energy is primarily a tool used to promote the smooth running of the global economy. This book discusses the role and development of energy in emerging regions.