European Energy Security

This edited collection highlights the different meanings that have been attached to the notion of energy security and how it is taken to refer to different objects. Official policy definitions of energy security are broadly similar across countries and emphasize the reliability and affordability of access to sufficient energy resources for a community to uphold its normal economic and social functions. However, perceptions of energy security vary between states causing different actions to be taken, both in international relations and in domestic politics. Energy Security in Europe moves the policy debates on energy security beyond a consideration of its seemingly objective nature. It also provides a series of contributions that shed light on the conditions under which similar material factors are met with very different energy security policies and divergent discourses across Europe. Furthermore, it problematizes established notions prevalent in energy security studies, such as whether energy security is ‘geopolitical’, and an element of high politics, or purely ‘economic’, and should be left for the markets to regulate. This book will be of particular relevance to students and academics in the fields of energy studies and political science seeking to understand the divergence in perspectives and understandings of energy security challenges between EU member states and in multilateral relationships between the EU as a whole.

Nataliya Esakova performs an analysis of the interdependencies and the nature of cooperation between energy producing, consuming and transit countries focusing on the gas sector. For the analysis the theoretical framework of the interdependence theory by Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye and the international regime theory are applied to the recent developments within the gas relationship between the European Union and Russia in the last decade. The objective of the analysis is to determine, whether a fundamental regime change in terms of international regime theory is taking place, and, if so, which regime change explanation model in terms of interdependence theory is likely to apply.

Low-Carbon Energy Security from a European Perspective draws on the European Commission‘s funded project MILESECURE-2050. It considers low-carbon energy security and energy geopolitics in Europe, with a focus on four thematic clusters: challenging the energy security paradigm; climate change and energy security objectives (the components of a secure and low-carbon energy system); energy security in a geopolitical perspective, as it relates to economics, resource competition, and availability; and the influence of large scale renewable energy projects on energy security and shifting geopolitical alliances. An overarching narrative is that optimizing the energy system simultaneously across different objectives may be impossible, i.e., lowest cost, least environmental impact, minimal downtime, regional supply. This book explores these charged topics through insights from a series of novel, new energy project case studies, and demonstrates the need for difficult political conversations within Europe and beyond by posing fundamental yet new questions about the energy security paradigm. Offers a unique perspective on low-carbon energy security by considering the assumptions behind current energy security needs Suggests the benefit of envisioning energy security through out-of-the-box scenario development with respect to the energy system Includes energy in an international scenario with case studies from Africa, Russia, Ukraine, Morroco, China, South America, and Europe Draws on the European Commission‘s funded project MILESECURE-2050

This book charts the EU’s response to the challenge of energy security with a focus on the foreign policy dimensions and examines how the EU’s approach to energy security is played out in different producer countries and regions.

Energy security is a burning issue in a world where 1.4 billion people still have no access to electricity. This book is about finding solutions for energy security through the international trading system. Focusing mainly on the European Union as a case study, this holistic and comprehensive analysis of the existing legal and geopolitical instruments strives to identify the shortcomings of the international and EU energy trade governance systems, concluding with the notion of a European Energy Union and what the EU is politically prepared to accept as part of its unified energy security.

​As energy is becoming one of the crucial concerns in the EU, this volume provides an in-depth analysis and interdisciplinary perspective on European energy security. Given the multidimensional nature of energy security in terms of physical availability, affordability and geopolitical security, it brings together authors from different backgrounds pursuing a distinctly multidisciplinary approach. The authors' different perspectives correspond to the three sections of the book: international relations, which focuses on Eastern EU partners; energy economics, which highlights the current unconventional hydrocarbons revolution and its impact on EU energy and climate strategies; and public policy, which analyzes EU policies in the context.

Recent developments like the rising trend in crude oil price, the international economic crisis, the civil revolts in Northern Africa and the Middle East, the nuclear threat in Japan after the tsunami, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the economic growth of emerging countries like China and India have a direct relation to the security of energy supply anywhere in the world. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of energy risks, energy scenarios and energy policies with special reference to the European Union and its member states, emphasizing the economic and geopolitical dimensions of energy security. The book assesses both quantitatively and qualitatively the socioeconomic and political risks related to the European energy supply, together with the EU’s energy relations with other countries. Two innovative indicators have been developed to estimate geopolitical energy risks and energy-related relations with other countries. The book also examines the process of convergence of member states’ energy security policies, the path towards a common European energy policy, and the process of Europeanization projected towards the energy corridors through which the EU receive energy imports. In addition, alternative strategic scenarios related to energy risk are assessed. Finally, guidelines for the EU’s energy policy and new strategies using energy corridors are suggested in order to maximize EU’s energy security. The book should be of interest to students and researchers across a wide range of subjects, including energy economics and policy, energy and foreign policy in the EU, energy policies in EU member states and several aspects related to international political economy.

This book analyzes energy security dynamics in Europe through the prism of security logics. Drawing on the literature on securitization, security logics and security contexts, it scrutinizes energy security debates and policy developments in Germany, Poland and Ukraine, focusing on the pipeline politics, nuclear energy and renewables sector. The contextualized analysis accounts for the wider historical, socio-economic and cultural background from which energy policies emerge and gives a voice to the different stakeholders—from policymakers to the local NGO sector. The book sheds light on the root causes of different energy policy decisions and illustrates that European energy security is currently driven by four security logics—war, subsistence, risk and emancipation. The logic of emancipation is a newly emergent phenomenon embraced by many bottom-up citizens’ initiatives and manifested in their drive to self-reliance, the rhetoric of liberation and local practices of energy production. The conceptualization and analysis of the emancipatory logic vis-à-vis other energy security logics help to explain European energy context most effectively—with its background conditions, emerging trends and often controversial national policy approaches. This book will be of much interest to students of critical security studies, energy policy and European politics in general.