Government policy-making in the energy sector, and the legislative process that translates policy decisions into law, are rarely straightforward. The sheer scale and complexity of the industry, coupled with its central position in the economic and political life of so many countries and regions, ensures this. An array of competing priorities and objectives pulls policy-makers in sharply differing directions. These range from the big picture macro-economic and political issues-growth, inflation, employment, control of vital resources, international trade, protection of the environment, tax and fiscal policy, even international relations-to more focused industry ones-energy security, demand management, price regulation, investment promotion, and so on. This has long been the case. Latterly, of course, the subject of climate change has added a further demanding and politically-sensitive tier of complexity to the process. Each of the pieces in this issue of I.E.L.R. touches on this policy-making theme, in informative and illuminating ways.
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