Saharawis that could not flee in 1975 have spent the last 45 years under a Moroccan occupation. Some 180,000 Saharawi refugees remain there today. As Moroccan troops invaded, indigenous Saharawi civilians fled to refugee camps in neighbouring Algeria, where the Saharawi liberation movement the Polisario Front set up a state-in-exile, the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic. Morocco claimed that, before Spanish colonisation, “Spanish Sahara” had belonged to the Kingdom of Morocco, a claim refuted by Saharawis and, in 1975, by the International Court of Justice. Western Sahara was a Spanish colony until 1975, when Spain sold it to neighbouring Morocco and Mauritania in return for continued access to the country’s fisheries and a share of profits from the phosphates mine. We argue that, in such a situation of foreign military occupation, in which energy infrastructure is inextricably tangled with a colonial political regime, the energy system, or energoregime, produces subjects hostile to itself. We further discussions on energy systems, colonisation and authoritarianism by focusing on the lived experiences and perceptions of the colonised Saharawi people towards the energy systems installed in their country, Western Sahara, which is largely occupied and ruled by a foreign power, Morocco. ( 2021) point out, indigenous voices are often missing in energy debates. While there is a body of research on how energy infrastructure, including renewable energy infrastructure, furthers (neo)colonial social and political power imbalances, there is little work on how colonised peoples subjectively perceive and experience such energy systems. This article engages with the politics of energy in situations of conflict, authoritarianism and settler colonialism. Our data are generated using ethnography and semi-structured interviews with Saharawis living in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara. Putting colonised people’s lived experiences and perceptions of an oppressive energy system centre stage, we further research on the interrelationship between energy infrastructure, citizenship and identity by showing how an energoregime can inadvertently foster a rejection of certain citizenships and national identities in favour of others. Using Dominic Boyer’s concept of energopower, which allows us to explore how energy is used to govern populations and produce subjectivities, we argue that a colonial and oppressive energoregime will produce subjects hostile to itself. We contribute to the body of research on how energy infrastructure, including renewable energy infrastructure, furthers (neo)colonial social and political power imbalances. Focusing on energy developments and energy infrastructure in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara, this article engages with the politics of energy and energy citizenship in situations of conflict, authoritarianism and settler colonialism.
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