The Thesis aims to analyze the possible shale gas development in the EU in context with raising problem of energy security. Based on the experience of shale revolution in the USA and econometric modelling using the method of Ordinary Least Squares with Fixed Effects to test the dependence of price on shale gas production, the transfer of US model to the EU is discussed. The results show that shale production affects the price negatively and that US model is successful due to multiple reasons, primarily presence of experienced companies, geological structure and strong regulation rules. The Thesis shows the unsuitability of the US model for the EU market. After the first enthusiasm for shale plays research in late 2000s the multiple barriers for drilling have risen up; the most significant are the environmental worries; both on governmental and public levels. US companies have lost interest in the EU and moved to other parts of the world. The shale gas development is not able to affect the energy security of the EU on European, international level.

This thesis deals with the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2009 in terms of energy and energy security. In the introductory theoretical part the notion of "energy security" is defined and the chapter analyzes energy in the EU primary law too, including jurisdiction of the issue to a particular Union's institutions. In the practical part of the thesis the priorities of the EU in energy and energy security are described and steps that CZ PRES made to increase EU energy security are analyzed. Particular emphasis is placed on the gas crisis and the general supply of gas, which played during the Czech Presidency a significant role. Final chapters focus on the shift in the EU's energy security during the forthcoming Swedish and the Spanish Presidency.

The aim of the thesis is to examine the nature of Czech-Russian business relations and their influence on the political dimension of the bilateral ties between the two countries and the perceived standing of the Czech state in Europe.

L'émergence d'une politique européenne de l'énergie a pu être constatée dès les origines de la construction européenne, notamment par la création des Communautés européennes. Pour autant, les difficultés rencontrées par les deux Communautés sectorielles ont conduit l'Union européenne à tenter de conduire son action dans le cadre du Traité instituant la Communauté européenne qui était exempt de toute disposition concernant le secteur énergétique. Toutefois, de nombreux éléments permettent d'attester du renouvellement de la politique européenne de l'énergie depuis ces dernières années, confirmant l'importance que revêt ce secteur stratégique, à l'instar de la notion qui lui sert de fondement : la sécurité énergétique. La notion de sécurité énergétique est singulière, car chaque Etat tend, au travers de sa politique nationale, à garantir la sécurité des approvisionnements énergétiques, ce à quoi ne déroge pas l'action européenne énergétique qui a aussi cette finalité. Cependant, la sécurité énergétique ne se traduit pas uniquement par cet objectif. Elle revêt différentes significations qui en font une notion bien plus complexe que ne pourrait le laisser penser en apparence son rôle au sein de la politique européenne de l'énergie. En tant que fondement de l'action européenne dans le secteur de l'énergie, la sécurité énergétique a permis de l'inscrire dans un mouvement d'impulsion qui a été à l'origine du déploiement d'initiatives européennes dépassant le simple cadre dessiné par l'article 194 du TFUE, et qui a enfin doté l'Union européenne d'une compétence explicite dans ce domaine. Au-delà de sa fonction qui se traduit par l'objectif de garantie de l'approvisionnement énergétique au sein de l'Union européenne, la sécurité énergétique favorise ainsi le développement d'une action européenne renforcée dont elle est la finalité, tout en étant, en tant que fondement, à l'initiative d'actions subsidiaires dans le domaine de l'énergie. / The emergence of a European energy policy has been observed from the beginning of European integration, particularly by the creation of the European Communities. However, the difficulties encountered by both sectorial Communities have led the European Union to attempt to drive its action under the Treaty establishing the European Community, in which none of its articles was concerning the energy sector. However, many elements can attest of the renewal of the European energy policy in recent years, confirming that energy is a strategic sector, as is its funding principle: the energy security. The concept of energy security is unique because each state is, through its national policy, ensuring the security of its energy supplies. In this domain, local notional policies meet with the European Union energy policy purpose. However, energy security cannot be defined only as an objective. It has different understandings which are much more complex than could suggest its function in the European energy policy concept. As the basis for European Union action in the energy sector, energy security has created the momentum that enabled the development of European initiatives beyond the simple framework outlined by Article 194 TFEU, which finally allowed the primary law to provide an explicit European competence in this area. Beyond its function to ensure energy supply in the European Union, energy security enforces its final goal - the development of a stronger European action – and provides the foundation for European subsidiary actions.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences. / Department of Government and Public Administration

A importância de métodos de projeto vem crescendo nos últimos anos à medida que sistemas sócio-técnicos complexos se tornam mais numerosos. Além da complexidade, o tamanho e o investimento financeiro destes sistemas amplificam a gravidade dos erros de projeto. O objetivo geral deste trabalho foi desenvolver uma metodologia de especificação e projeto que reduza o tempo e energia para desenvolver um sistema complexo cujas funções sejam conhecidas a priori, gerenciando em paralelo os riscos. O objetivo específico foi verificar a viabilidade econômica de usinas nucleares móveis de pequeno porte. Este trabalho adotou como princípio a lei construtal que prevê o sucesso de sistemas que facilitem os fluxos necessários à sua existência. Após a identificação dos fatores chave para facilitar o fluxo de informações, esta tese desenvolveu um conjunto de conceitos para facilitar o trabalho de engenharia. Aplicando tais conceitos, este trabalho desenvolveu sequências de atividades que descrevem o método proposto, sendo cada atividade detalhada por uma lista de requisitos. A demonstração das vantagens do método proposto foi feita por meio de análise de árvore de eventos e árvore de falhas. Usando o método, esta tese desenvolveu especificações e projetos em vários níveis (empresarial, usina, caldeira nuclear, circuito primário e gerador de vapor). Baseando-se em dados da marinha americana, esta tese desenvolveu um modelo de custo para reatores de pequeno porte. Concluiu que a energia nuclear pode ser competitiva se a potência elétrica média efetiva ao longo da vida útil ficar acima de 30MWe e se o tempo de vida útil for igual ou maior do que 60 anos. Tal fato decorre dos altos custos de aquisição que requerem uma vida longa para compensar o investimento e dos efeitos de economia de escala especialmente pronunciados para reatores a água pressurizada. / The importance of design methodologies has been growing in recent years as complex socio-technical systems become more common. In addition to complexity, the size and financial investment of these systems amplifies the severity of design errors. The general goal of this work was to develop a specification and design methodology that reduces the time and energy to develop a complex system whose functions are known a priori, managing the risks in parallel. The specific goal was to verify if small modular reactors could be economically possible. This work adopted as principle the Constructal law, that predicts the success of systems that ease the necessary flows to its existence. After finding the key factors to ease the flow of information, this work developed a set of concepts to ease the engineering work. Applying such concepts, this work developed sequences of activities that describe the proposed methodology. Lists of requirements gave guidance for each activity. Event tree and fault tree analyses showed the advantages of the proposed methodology. Using the methodology, this work developed specifications and designs at many product breakdown levels (enterprise, nuclear power plant, nuclear steam supply system, reactor coolant system and steam generator). Using data from US Navy, this work developed a cost model for small reactors. This work concluded that nuclear power may be competitive if average electrical power extracted during the life is larger than 30 MWe and if life time is superior to 60 years. The first condition is consequence of the high overnight costs of nuclear power. The second is consequence of the strong scale economy effects of pressurized water reactors.

This study discusses how the World Trade Organization could promote the development of an international gas market by playing a more prominent role in regulating rights essential to effective pipeline gas transit. Gas transit is network-dependent in the sense that it cannot be established without the existence of pipeline infrastructure in the territory of a transit State and the ability to access this infrastructure. Nevertheless, at an inter-regional level, there are no sufficient pipeline networks that would allow gas to travel freely from a supplier to the most lucrative markets. The existing networks are often operated by either private or State-controlled vertically-integrated monopolies that are usually reluctant to release unused pipeline capacity to their potential competitors. These obstacles diminish the gains from trade for States endowed with scarce and relatively immobile natural resources, such as gas, including developing land-locked countries that rely on revenues from gas exports. These obstacles can also undermine Members’ energy security and their sustainable development achieved by shifting domestic production from dirty fuels to cleaner energy sources – namely gas. From a technical perspective, gas transit can be established by invoking what is referred to in this study as ‘third-party access’ and/or ‘capacity establishment’ rights. The first main question that this thesis analyses is, therefore, whether, and, if so, how these rights are regulated by WTO rules relevant to transit, including: GATT Article V:2 (first and second sentences) establishing the principles of freedom of transit and non-discrimination, the ‘non-violation complaint’ provision under GATT Article XXIII:1(b), and the GATS. This question has not been answered by WTO panels or examined sufficiently by scholars. The key contribution of this study to the existing academic literature on energy transit lies in the fact that this study analyses the above rules through the prism of systemic integration of WTO law sources with other relevant rules of public international law, including principles of general international law and treaties regulating transit. By contrast, previous researchers discussed the regulation of third-party access and capacity establishment rights from a limited perspective of WTO law. The second main question examined in this study is how WTO transit rules could be improved through a legislative reform to regulate particular aspects of trade in pipeline gas better – namely third-party access and capacity establishment rights. This question is answered by exploring two options: the codification of the existing principles of general international law relevant to these rights in the WTO legal system and the progressive development of WTO transit rules through the expansion of additional commitments of Members on energy services under the GATS. While this study analyses the relationship between WTO transit obligations and inherent ancillary rights (namely third-party access and capacity establishment rights) implied in these obligations in the context of trade in pipeline gas, the conclusions reached here may have practical application in other areas of network-bound trade, such as trade in electric power.

Drought is an extreme climate phenomenon that happens slowly and periodically threatens the environmental and socio-economic sectors. Developing countries have experienced crucial conditions in meeting the needs for food, energy, and water security. Natural disasters contribute as risky sources of food insecurity and vulnerability in the Middle East. This dissertation presents a country-level review and quantitative assessment of the current issues associated with the Food-Energy-Water-Security (FEWS) Nexus in the Middle East. In this study, sixteen countries in the Middle East are chosen, namely, Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, and Turkey. The most recent datasets are used to study and analyze the factors that have increased the demand to understand and manage the linkage of FEW systems in the region. Water scarcity, extreme events, population growth, urbanization, economic growth, poverty, and political stability are found to be the key drivers of the current challenges in the Middle East. The results suggest that these factors have created a subsequent stress on FEW resources specifically on the water sector in the region. Therefore, more attention is required to sustain the FEW resources and cope with the socio-economic development. Moreover, this study presented a comprehensive assessment of drought and food-water-energy-security nexus across the Middle East using rigorous frameworks. Meteorological, agricultural, and hydrological droughts are analyzed using different drought indices at multiple timescales over the region for seven decades for the period of 1948-2017. The study further analyzes food insecurity in the Middle East through the exploration of drought (as a water stress factor), energy, and other socio-economic factors in the region. A Bayesian approach is conducted to link all the factors that best predict food insecurity in Middle East pooled from 16 countries in the region. Results reveal that the intensity of agricultural drought are the most aggravated over the region in all cases. Moreover, the results demonstrated the significant impacts of drought (as a water stress factor), agricultural land availability, population growth, livestock, and cereal production on food insecurity in the Middle East.

這碩士論文的目的是研究非傳統安全問題在東北亞地區安全困境發揮作用的程度和意義，並了解正式和制度化安全管理，在該地區連續失敗背後的原因筆者在以下研究中列出多個任務，包括了以下主要目標提供一個非傳統安全問題的全面，但簡化的概念附著到該地區的安全困境，並威脅其穩定性;提供一個具體的非傳統安全的情況下，研究基於政策的分析選定的國家，從而來了解和承認它的意義. / The purpose of this master thesis is to study the degree and significance of role played by unconventional security problems in the Northeast Asian security dilemma and understand the reason behind continuous failures to formalize and/or institutionalize security governance in the region. The author in the following research sets out multiple tasks, which include the following principal goals: provide a comprehensive but simplified conception on non-traditional security issues adherent to the region’s security dilemma and threatening its stability; offer a concrete case-study of unconventional security based on policy-analysis of selected countries, which helps to understand and acknowledge its significance; analyze instititionalism against the backdrop of Northeast Asia’s specificity concerning the lack of strictly formal organizations; and last but not least develop an idea of how and whether cooperation in non-traditional security issues can lead to the improvement of security governance in the region.

Most studies in environmental politics have traditionally examined three broad areas: the degradation of the environment; the regulatory regimes governing the environment; or environmental activism within the affluent North. This thesis provides an alternative perspective, exploring environmental activism in the less affluent South. In particular, while human rights and social justice perspectives have historically been largely absent from many environmental movements of the North, this thesis argues that, due to precarious living conditions and authoritarian governance, these issues are of primary importance for environmentalists in the South. As a result this thesis contends that most environmental movements in the South are part of a growing global justice movement and that important cultural diversities within this movement can result in novel forms of resistance and environmental governance. The focus here is on the emancipatory actors within these movements in the South who challenge existing power structures within society. Likewise, by adopting a critical perspective, this thesis argues that large business interests pursue energy projects in the South in the name of energy security and large scale industrial development that are often inappropriate for local development and security needs. To test these hypotheses, four case studies were undertaken that examine transnational gas pipeline and large dam projects at various stages of their development which originate in either Burma (Myanmar) or Thailand. Empirical research, primarily in the form of interviews, undertaken in the countries hosting the various energy projects demonstrated that although environmental activists in the South were assisted by transnational activist networks there were also important local factors that impacted on the emancipatory philosophies, strategies and tactics of many activists in this region. These strategies have achieved some success, with environmental impact assessment (EIA) processes in Thailand now providing a potential opening for the political engagement of communities. Nevertheless, this thesis finds that the power of corporate interests in the international political economy often poses insurmountable barriers for activists to achieve both their short and long term aims. The findings suggest that despite the efforts of activists, local indigenous and ethnic minority communities continue to bear the brunt of the social and environmental costs of transnational energy projects in the South while receiving few of the benefits. Rather than safeguarding these communities from deprivation, these projects often exacerbate existing social tensions and conflicts, resulting in increased community insecurity. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1474397 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of History and Politics, 2009