During the first decade of the 21st century energy security has re-emerged as an issue of concern on the international agenda, attracting a wide range of analysis and increased attention in scholarly debates. This thesis seeks to contribute to the existing literature with its focus on the formulation of understandings of energy security on the level of national elite discourses of European Union (EU) Member States. This thesis analyses elite discourses on energy in three EU countries: Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom. It looks at energy as an increasingly salient theme of newspaper coverage for the period of 2000-2009. It addresses two research questions. Firstly is energy supply seen as highly threatened to an extent that extraordinary measures are necessary?Secondly, it assesses whether and to what extent discourses converge across the three selected countries. The overall aim of this thesis is to discuss whether a common understanding of energy security is emerging across EU Member States’ elite discourses. The thesis identifies politicisation, not securitisation, as having the biggest influence on national public discourses. It demonstrates signs of convergence between all three national discourses, showing its occurrence in terms of defining problems and to a lesser degree in terms of preferred solutions. The thesis identifies year 2006 as a particularly pivotal learning experience which triggered an increased scepticism towards Russia. It also shows that this scepticism was directed towards a personified villain, Vladimir Putin. These shifts were visible in other key events identified in the thesis, primarily in August 2008 (conflict in Georgia) and January 2009 (second gas spat between Kyiv and Moscow). There are instances suggesting that the perceptions of these problems are gradually (albeit slowly) translated into a common European challenge. A more unified EU foreign policy vis-à-vis Russia in the energy field however seems unlikely. The differences between discourses concerned various national factors causing energy insecurity in all three countries. Visible differences were also seen in terms of perceptions of the European Union. Ideas for pan-European solutions emerged only following salient crisis events, shifting perceptions but then returning to business as usual. Although all countries tend to increasingly perceive Russian energy policies as a common European problem, the thesis is pessimistic about the perspectives of common European solutions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:676952 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Wisniewski, Jaroslaw |
| Contributors | German, Tracey Clair ; Meyer, Christoph |
| Publisher | King's College London (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/towards-a-common-understanding-of-energy-security(b79f2270-4e9d-4400-915c-8d71657dd73c).html |
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