Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil

What is carbon democracy? Explain how it is different from traditional accounts of the relationship between democracy and carbon energy.

Several times in the book, Mitchell suggests that imperial powers and foreign oil companies intentionally collaborated to create crises. What were some of these crises? How are they important and related to the distribution and production of oil? Consider whether you agree with Mitchell’s assessment around intentionality—and explain why or why not?

How did imperial powers build “a white-ruled, self-governing empire” (72) and what is its relationship to carbon energy? What does self-governing mean to the imperial powers and to the populace being governed? How did the populace oppose this form of government?