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Energy Security and Cooperation in Eurasia
Why are bilateral relations, especially in the area of energy security, so different in the cases of U.S.-Russia, U.S.-Azerbaijan, and Russia-Germany energy deals? Why do some states find common ground despite differences, while others, with all the seemingly favourable conditions, are sinking into animosity? Energy Security and Cooperation in Eurasia explores varying outcomes of energy cooperation, defined as diplomatic relations, bilateral trade, and investment in oil and natural gas. The book looks at economic potential, geopolitical rivalry, and domestic interest groups in the cases of U.S.-Russia, U.S.-Azerbaijan, and Russia-Germany energy ties. It looks at major projects in each case (...
Crossing Nuclear Thresholds
This book applies the cutting-edge socio-cultural model Cultural Topography Analytic Framework (CTAF) pioneered in the authors’ earlier volume Strategic Culture and Weapons of Mass Destruction: Culturally Based Insights into Comparative National Security Policymaking (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) with an eye towards isolating those vectors of nuclear decision-making on which the US might exert influence within a foreign state. The case studies included in this volume tackle a number of the nuclear challenges—termed “nuclear thresholds”—likely to be faced by the US and identify the most promising points of leverage available to American policymakers in ameliorating a wide range of o...
Making Electricity Resilient
Energy risk and security have become topical matters in Western and international policy discussions; ranging from international climate change mitigation to investment in energy infrastructures to support economic growth and more sustainable energy provisions. As such, ensuring the resilience of more sustainable energy infrastructures against disruptions has become a growing concern for high-level policy makers. Drawing on interviews, participant observation, policy analysis, and survey research, this book unpacks the work of the authorities, electricity companies, and lay persons that keeps energy systems from failing and helps them to recover from disruptions if they occur. The book explo...
The Routledge Handbook of Russian International Relations Studies
This handbook examines the study of international relations (IR) in Russia, giving a comprehensive analysis of historical, theoretic-conceptual, geographical, and institutional aspects. It identifies the place and role of Russia in global IR and discusses the factors that facilitate or impede the development of Russian IR studies. The contributors represent diverse Russian regions and IR schools and offer an overview of different intellectual traditions and key IR paradigms in the post-Soviet era. Filling the vacuum in international understanding of the Russian perspective on pivotal international issues, they demonstrate the continuity and change in Russia’s international policy course over the past three decades and explain how different foreign policy schools and concepts have affected Russian foreign policy making and the decision-making process. Providing a unique contribution to the discussion on non-Western IR theory, this handbook will appeal to scholars and students of international relations, Russian studies, world politics, and international studies.
Gorbachev, Italian Communism and Human Rights
The chapters brought together in this volume build on the idea that in the 1970s-1980s the global language of human rights contributed to stimulating ideas of reform in the communist world. The protagonists were Mikhail Gorbachev and the Italian communists. The experience of the PCI was in many ways a peculiar case, but one that was linked to underground ideas of cultural change even in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Gorbachev's ascent signalled a fundamental shift, as he rejected the approach of reducing human rights to an ideological battleground and instead made it the centrepiece of a universalist relaunch. By exploring the encounter between reform communists and human rights, the authors reconstruct the metamorphosis and the end of communism within the context of the wider transformations taking place in European political cultures at the end of the Cold War.
Energy, Cities and Sustainability
According to some estimates, humanity has now passed the point at which city dwellers outnumber country dwellers. This simple fact encapsulates a multitude of historical trends and contentions, not the least being "is this sustainable"? Energy, Cities and Sustainability aims to illuminate this question by tracing the evolution of the modern city, the energy sources that power it and the motivations behind increasing urbanisation. The book examines changing energy use across history, analysing the origins and significance of the Industrial Revolution to reveal how the modern city came into being. Transport, population size, housing, electricity use and growing consumption are each discussed, showing how the cultural aspects of energy use have influenced urban form in the developed world and developing countries. Finally, in contemplating the future, it is considered whether this model of modern urban life is sustainable. This book is a valuable resource for researchers, academics and policy-makers in the areas of planning, energy policy and environment and sustainability.
Low Carbon Politics
Low Carbon Politics focuses on how policies and institutions have influenced the deployment of renewable energy and nuclear power in the electricity sector. Cultural theory is used to analyse this. Egalitarian pressures have had a profound influence on technological outcomes, not merely in securing the deployment of renewable energy but also in increasing the costs of nuclear power. Whereas in the 1970s it might have been expected that individualist, market based pressures allied to dominant hierarchies would deliver nuclear power as the main response to problems associated with fossil fuels, a surprising combination has emerged. Egalitarian and individualist pressures are, together, leading to increasing levels of deployment of renewable energy. This work finds that electricity monopolies tend to favour nuclear power whereas competitive arrangements are more likely to lead to more renewable energy being deployed. It covers developments in a number of countries including USA, UK, China, South Africa and also Germany and Denmark. This book will be of great relevance to students, academics and policymakers with an interest in energy policy, low carbon politics and climate change.
Energy Policy in China
Energy policy has always been an important part of China’s national policy agenda. Although the overall Chinese economy has become largely market-driven, its energy sectors are still subject to varying degrees of government control. Authoritarian governance allows China to move very quickly in some areas, such as hydropower, nuclear power, wind power, and solar energy. However, conflicting interests have also led to infighting and impasses. With a specific focus on energy supply, Energy Policy in China provides a succinct account of China’s energy policy over the last sixty years. Using separate chapters dedicated to each energy sub-sector, Chi-Jen Yang introduces and discusses both the achievements and failures of the Chinese energy systems, as well as the strengths and insufficiencies of energy governance in China. This book is an interdisciplinary study written for a broad audience, including those researching and working in the fields of energy policy, business strategy, and government administration, as well as Chinese and Asian Studies more broadly.
Governing Shale Gas
Shale energy development is an issue of global importance. The number of reserves globally, and their potential economic return, have increased dramatically in the past decade. Questions abound, however, about the appropriate governance systems to manage the risks of unconventional oil and gas development and the ability for citizens to engage and participate in decisions regarding these systems. Stakeholder participation is essential for the social and political legitimacy of energy extraction and production, what the industry calls a 'social license' to operate. This book attempts to bring together critical themes inherent in the energy governance literature and illustrate them through cas...
Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reforms
Countries around the world are spending up to $500 billion per year on subsidising fossil fuel consumption. By some estimates, the G20 countries alone are spending around another $450 billion on subsidising fossil fuel production. In addition, the indirect social welfare costs of these subsidies have been shown to be substantial – for instance due to air pollution, road congestion, climate change, and economic inefficiency, to name a few. Considering these numbers, there is no doubt that fossil fuel subsidies cause severe economic distortions that compromise countries’ prospects of achieving equitable and sustainable development. This book provides a guide to the complex challenge of des...
