Description
Book SynopsisThis book examines three bipolar relationships that have emerged as a result of the Eurasian energy triangleâRussia-Former Soviet Union region, Russia-EU, and Russia-Chinaâand the ways in which they, along with Putin's foreign energy policy, relate to the debate between neorealism and neoliberal institutionalism.
Trade ReviewIn this timely book on Russian energy strategy, Sotiriou outlines the approach taken to former Soviet states Ukraine and Belarus, the EU, and China. Theoretically, he analyzes Russia’s three-pronged strategy from the perspective of neorealism, neoliberal institutionalism, and a hybrid institutional balancing model. A principal source of information is the archive of Gazprom, the state-owned energy giant that provides a large share of Russian tax revenues. Sotiriou concludes that the 2010 agreement between Ukraine and Russia that cut the export duty on natural gas by 30 percent in return for a 25-year guarantee of access to the Russian naval base at Sevastopol reflected old-fashioned power politics characteristic of neorealism. The same model explains Putin’s reluctance to follow through on a customs union with Belarus that might hurt Russian economic interests. However, after the natural gas crisis of 2006, the EU pushed for an 'unbundling' of energy security from Russian supplies more characteristic of the institutional balancing model. Even though China has reached out to both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan for energy supplies, the author expects that China will end up relying heavily on Russian supplies and Russia's power politics approach. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. * CHOICE *
In this book, Stylianos Sotiriou develops a framework that views energy-related issues as an essential part of Russian foreign policy. The book’s focus is on energy policy in the Eurasian geopolitical space, an issue that is analysed here through an essentially Russian lens. The author provides valuable theoretical considerations and offers substantive empirical data on Russia’s energy strategy and spectrum of tactics. By focusing on natural resources management during the 2000s, the book does actually succeed in providing an insight into Russia’s profit maximisation strategy.... [T]he book’s contribution to the rationale of Russian energy policy deepens our understanding of energy relations in the Eurasian region. The book is well grounded on a huge number of primary and secondary sources and a dataset consisting of official publications and documents, statistics from energy firms as well as policy papers. The book is recommended to anyone with an interest in Russia’s energy-related issues. * Europe-Asia Studies *
The crisis in Ukraine has brought power politics back to the agenda of European thinking about international relations. The provision of energy is one of the most important Russian power instruments in the Eurasian arena. Stylianos Sotiriou´s study provides for a comprehensive survey of Russia´s foreign energy policy towards the European Union, China and the successor states of the Soviet Union during the 2000s. By doing so, he demonstrates very convincingly the limits of international institutions in this specific policy field. This wide-ranging book is recommended to all readers who seek a comprehensive and timely overview over Russian energy politics. -- Andreas Nölke, University of Frankfurt
The emergence of Russian energy power since the beginning of 2000s is widely considered as a key feature of the geopolitics of the entire Eurasia region ever since. This book provides a theoretically informed, thorough examination of the Russian energy policy toward the EU, the Former Soviet Union Region and China. It does so in an innovative way, namely by digging under the surface of current International Relations theory: a valuable contribution to our understanding of the complex geopolitics of the Eurasia region. -- Christos Paraskevopoulos, University of Macedonia
In this book, Stylianos A. Sotiriou analyzes Russia’s energy strategy, its European, Eurasian, and Asian components, as well as their inter-connectedness. The reader will find it to be an ambitious, theoretically informed synthesis of various aspects of Russia’s energy relations. -- Andrei P. Tsygankov, San Francisco State University
Table of ContentsChapter One: Exploring Eurasia Chapter Two: Theorizing ‘power politics’ Chapter Three: Energy politics and the Russian energy locomotive Chapter Four: Russia in the FSU region: the cases of Ukraine and Belarus Chapter Five: The strategic Russia-EU energy relations: until when? Chapter Six: The enigmatic Russo-Chinese energy relations Chapter Seven: In lieu of a conclusion
