scholarly journals Energy security: between markets and sovereign politics

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 544-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radu Dudau ◽  
Alexandra Catalina Nedelcu

Abstract Energy security is a constant presence in the energy-related political discourse all over the world. States strive to secure steady inflows of needed energy supplies, as well as the price affordability of those supplies. However, what are deemed to be the best means to meet such goals depends on one’s theoretical vantage point. On the one hand, economically-minded theorists maintain that energy security is only a matter of market rules and interactions. Thus, they call upon energy markets to deliver both steady supplies and competitive prices. On the other hand, politically-minded scholars emphasize the political and hard-power nature of international energy trades, especially in a global context market by the emergence of state-centered, authoritarian regimes that use large national energy companies as foreign policy instruments. These two positions delineate competing approaches to how energy security risks ought to be managed. The former approaches energy security risks by means similar to portfolio management, requiring diversification of investments in order to insulate them from market shocks. The latter approaches energy security as a matter of foreign policy, by which states envisage interest coordination and favorable alignments within countervailing alliances against the agent of energy security risk. The present paper goes beyond the uncontentious point that these two dimensions are complementary. It argues that, depending on the international context, a more market-driven or a more-politically driven behavior may be adequate.

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (Summer 2020) ◽  
pp. 237-255
Author(s):  
Ahmad Alshwawra ◽  
Ahmad Almuhtady

The Mediterranean region has witnessed a lot of turbulence in the last decade. On the one hand, the Arab uprising changed the shape of the regional relations towards more rivalry. On the other hand, the discovery of natural gas resources has opened up a valuable chance for cooperation and settling the long-standing disputes. Jordan is affected by what happens in the Mediterranean region in more than one aspect. The various economic difficulties including energy insecurity, resulting from multiple refugee crises and the interruption of Egyptian gas is one of the most critical challenges Jordan has ever faced. As a heavy energy importer, the Jordanian energy sector is very sensitive to the regional and International context. The recently discovered Eastern Mediterranean gas is an attractive energy resource for Jordan. Nonetheless, a fear of its influence on the Jordanian foreign policy in the Palestinian context has grown. This article discusses the impact of the recent turmoil in the Mediterranean region on Jordan energy security. It tracks the change of energy security in Jordan between 2010 and 2018 using a proposed energy security framework. The article also discusses the potential implications of Jordan’s decision to import the Mediterranean gas through Israel on Jordanian energy security using the proposed energy security framework. Moreover, the article utilizes semi-systematic literature review methodology to analyze international, regional and national contexts in order to investigate the potential ramifications of that decision on Jordanian foreign policy regarding the Palestinian cause.


1978 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-225
Author(s):  
R. Little ◽  
R. D. McKinlay

IntroductionTwo distinctive views of the modern state can be found in recent political science literature. One group of writers, drawing attention to the expansion of international agencies and transnational processes and organizations, have argued that these developments have precipitated an increase in the level of interdependence between states, eliminating the distinction between domestic and foreign policy and constraining the activities of governments within their own states. At the same time, another group of writers, focusing on the domestic system, have pointed to the expanding power of governments, expressed in terms of the growing range of their activities and the increasing number of policy instruments employed to monitor and control behaviour within the state. These two approaches present something of a paradox—the power of governments is depicted as expanding on the one hand, while being constrained on the other.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4733
Author(s):  
Feng Wang ◽  
Ruiqi Wang

The role of innovation for economic growth has been proved by studies. However, whether innovation can decrease environmental cost and energy security risks remains to be studied. To explore the theoretical mechanism of driving green economic growth by innovation, we constructed a four-sector endogenous growth model, including the final-goods sector, the intermediate-goods sector, the Research and Development (R&D) sector, and the energy sector. Then we measured the innovation-driven effect of green growth and calculated the green added value of 40 industries in China during 2005–2016. Based on the calculations, we used a threshold regression model to test the mechanism of driving green growth and decreasing energy security risks by innovation. The results showed that: (1) the innovation-driven effect on green growth increased from 0.2729 in 2005 to 0.3446 in 2016. (2) The proportion of green added value in the traditionally added value increased from 79.54% in 2005 to 92.25% in 2016. (3) Innovation had a threshold effect on green growth: the role of innovation in driving green growth weakened in the long term, but not in the short term (4) Innovation also had a threshold effect on energy security risk: after the innovation-driven effect crossed the threshold, innovation decreased energy security risk more significantly.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 570-588
Author(s):  
Chia-yi Lee

AbstractDue to its rapid economic growth and increasing demand for energy, China has engaged in numerous efforts to sustain its energy supplies and enhance its energy security. While existing literature argues that access to energy is oftentimes the driving force behind Beijing's foreign policy behavior, little work has been done to systemically examine the bilateral relationship between China and energy-producing countries. This paper explores how China's foreign policy making is influenced by its energy security concern, focusing on three foreign policy instruments—partnerships, foreign aid, and leadership visits. Using a large-N, quantitative approach, this paper analyzes the effect of oil production on these three foreign policy indicators. The results show that Beijing is more likely to form partnerships with oil-producing countries. Top Chinese leaders are also more likely to travel to countries that produce a higher level of oil. China's aid allocation to Africa is driven by oil abundance as well, although the findings on aid are only valid in the cross-national analysis.


Worldview ◽  
1960 ◽  
Vol 3 (9) ◽  
pp. 7-8
Author(s):  
Will Herberg

John Courtney Murray's writing cannot fail to be profound and instructive, and I have profited greatly from it in the course of the past decade. But I must confess that his article, "Morality and Foreign Policy" (Worldview, May), leaves me in a strange confusion of mixed feelings. On the one hand, I can sympathize with what I might call the historical intention of the natural law philosophy he espouses, which I take to be the effort to establish enduring structures of meaning and value to serve as fixed points of moral decision in the complexities of the actual situation. On the other hand, I am rather put off by the calm assurance he exhibits when he deals with these matters, as though everything were at bottom unequivocally rational and unequivocally accessible to the rational mind. And I am really distressed at what seems to 3ie to be his woefully inadequate appreciation of the position of the "ambiguists," among whom I cannot deny I count myself.


2008 ◽  
Vol 45 (03) ◽  
pp. 879-887 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nader Ebrahimi

Nanosystems are devices that are in the size range of a billionth of a meter (1 x 10-9) and therefore are built necessarily from individual atoms. The one-dimensional nanosystems or linear nanosystems cover all the nanosized systems which possess one dimension that exceeds the other two dimensions, i.e. extension over one dimension is predominant over the other two dimensions. Here only two of the dimensions have to be on the nanoscale (less than 100 nanometers). In this paper we consider the structural relationship between a linear nanosystem and its atoms acting as components of the nanosystem. Using such information, we then assess the nanosystem's limiting reliability which is, of course, probabilistic in nature. We consider the linear nanosystem at a fixed moment of time, say the present moment, and we assume that the present state of the linear nanosystem depends only on the present states of its atoms.


2006 ◽  
Vol 2006 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Beltrán ◽  
Natalia Santamaría

One not-so-intuitive result in auction theory is the revenue equivalence theorem, which states that as long as an auction complies with some conditions, it will on average generate the same revenue to an auctioneer as the revenue generated by any other auction that complies with them. Surprisingly, the conditions are not defined on the payment rules to the bidders but on the fact that the bidders do not bid below a reserve value—set by the auctioneer—the winner is the one with the highest bidding and there is a common equilibrium bidding function used by all bidders. In this paper, we verify such result using extensive simulation of a broad range of auctions and focus on the variability or fluctuations of the results around the average. Such fluctuations are observed and measured in two dimensions for each type of auction: as the number of auctions grows and as the number of bidders increases.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 52-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine L. Spears ◽  
Tonia San Nicolas-Rocca

Community-based organizations (CBOs) in the health and human services sector handle very sensitive client information, such as psychiatric, HIV testing, criminal justice, and financial records. With annual revenue often in the range of $1 to $10 million, these organizations typically lack the financial, labor, and technical resources to identify and manage information security risks within their environment. Therefore, information security risk assessments were conducted at CBOs as part of a university service learning course intended to ultimately improve security within participating CBOs. Knowledge transfer between trainees and trainers is essential in order for security improvements to be realized. Therefore, this paper constructs a theoretical model of knowledge transfer that is used as a lens through which to examine initial study results of the CBO interventions as part of an exploratory study.


2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1686) ◽  
pp. 20150070 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi Keller

The definition of self and others can be regarded as embodying the two dimensions of autonomy and relatedness. Autonomy and relatedness are two basic human needs and cultural constructs at the same time. This implies that they may be differently defined yet remain equally important. The respective understanding of autonomy and relatedness is socialized during the everyday experiences of daily life routines from birth on. In this paper, two developmental pathways are portrayed that emphasize different conceptions of autonomy and relatedness that are adaptive in two different environmental contexts with very different affordances and constraints. Western middle-class children are socialized towards psychological autonomy, i.e. the primacy of own intentions, wishes, individual preferences and emotions affording a definition of relatedness as psychological negotiable construct. Non-Western subsistence farmer children are socialized towards hierarchical relatedness, i.e. positioning oneself into the hierarchical structure of a communal system affording a definition of autonomy as action oriented, based on responsibility and obligations. Infancy can be regarded as a cultural lens through which to study the different socialization agendas. Parenting strategies that aim at supporting these different socialization goals in German and Euro-American parents on the one hand and Nso farmers from North Western Cameroon on the other hand are described. It is concluded that different pathways need to be considered in order to understand human psychology from a global perspective.


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