Natural gas as a ‘political weapon’: Discourse understanding
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18485/Keywords:
natural gas, energy product, political weapon, energy weapon, discourse analysis, militarizing discourseAbstract
The natural gas as a ”political weapon” discourse has been present in the public sphere for several decades. In this paper, we will first compare the different perspectives of the authors when it comes to the possibility of using natural gas as a political weapon. The research method is primarily based on content analysis and discourse comparison, primarily in the academic field, and partly in the media and political spheres. In addition to analyzing the discourse on political weapon, we also consider the discourse on natural gas as an energy weapon, although there is no clear boundary between them. After comparing different perspectives in the academic field, we will point out two possible reasons why the discourse on natural gas as a political weapon was created or shaped. One reason for the militarization of discourse can be sought in the context of broader political relations, while another reason can be sought in conflicting commercial interests and increased competition for markets.
References
[1] Andrijanič Mark Boris, “The American energy revolution: challenging Europe and the Middle East”, European View, 14, pp. 263–273.
[2] Baločkaite Rasa, “Russian energy imperialism: the world mapped along the gas pipelines”, Politikos mokslř almanachas, 12, pp. 85–96.
[3] Bugajski Janusz, Expanding Eurasia: Russia’s European Amibtions, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington D.C., 2008.
[4] Cherp Aleh, Jewell, Jessica, “The three perspectives on energy security: intellectual history, disciplinary roots and the potential for integration”, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Vol. 3, Issue 4, pp. 202–212.
[5] Goldthau Andreas, “Rhetoric versus reality: Russian threats to European energy supply”, Energy Policy, 36, pp. 686–692.
[6] Grigas Agnia, The New Geopolitics of Natural Gas, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, London, 2017.
[7] Högselius Per, Red Gas: Russia and the Origins of European Energy Dependence, Palgrave Macmillan Transnational History Series, Hampshire, 2013.
[8] Kandiyoti Rafael, Powering Europe – Russia, Ukraine and the Energy Squeeze, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
[9] Knoblock Natalia, “Sarcasm and Irony as a Political Weapon: Social Networking in the Time of Crisis”, in: Daniel Ochieng Orwenjo, Omondi Oketch, Asiru Hameed Tunde (eds.), Political Discourse in Emergent, Fragile, and Failed Democracies, Information Science Reference, Hershey, 2016, pp. 11-33.
[10] Lilliestam Johan, Ellenbeck Saskia, “Energy security and renewable electricity trade—Will Desertec make Europe Vulnerable to the ‘energyweapon’?”, Energy Policy, 39, pp. 3380–3391.
[11] Mallin Jay, “Terrorism as a political weapon”, Air University Review, 22, 1971, pp. 45–52.
[12] Maravall José María, The Rule of Law as a Political Weapon, Estudio/Working Paper 2001/160, Juan March Institute, Madrid, 2001.
[13] Meena Sunita, “Energy as a political weapon of foreign policy: The Russian case”, International Journal of Academic Research and Development, Vol. 3, Issue 5, pp. 172–174.
[14] Nygren Bertil, “Putin’s Use of Natural Gas to Reintegrate the CIS Region”, Problems of Post-Communism, Vol. 55, No. 4, pp. 3-15.
[15] Pirani Simon, Stern Jonathan and Yafimava Katja, The Russo-Ukrainian gas dispute of January 2009: a comprehensive assessment, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, NG 27, 2009.
[16] Селезнев Павел Сергеевич, Сергеева Анастасия Дмитриевна, „Сeверный поток-2: Коммерческий проект и политическое оружие в руках Запада”, Образование и право, Но. 5, c. 21–26.
[17] Shaffer Brenda, Energy Politics, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 2009.
[18] Smith Stegen Karen, “Deconstructing the ‘energy weapon’: Russia’s threat to Europe as case study”, Energy Policy, 39, pp. 6505–6513.
[19] Sobczyński Marek, Heffner Krystian, Barwiński Marek, The Eastern Dimension of the United Europe, Vol. 2, University of Łódź, Governmental Research Institute, Łódź-Opole, 2013.
[20] Spanjer Aldo, “Russian gas price reform and the EU–Russia gas relationship: Incentives, consequences and European security of supply”, Energy Policy, 35, pp. 2889-2898.
[21] Staab Andreas, The European Union Explained, Second Edition, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 2011.
[22] Umbach Frank, “Global energy security and the implications for the EU”, Energy Policy, 38, pp. 1229–1240.
[23] Victor David G., Jaffe Amy M., Hayes Mark H., Natural Gas and Geopolitics: From 1970 to 2040, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2006.
[24] Yun Yeongmi, Park Ki-cheal, “Characteristics of Russian Policies in Energy Security Toward Central Asia: Focusing on the Construction of The South Stream Pipeline”, The Journal of East Asian Affairs, Vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 151–174.
Internet izvori
[1] Barney Jopson, “US gas boom could be geopolitical weapon”, Financial Times, 6 March, 2014. Available from: https://www.ft.com/content/e2cf61ba-a489-11e3-b915-00144feab7de (Accessed 13 June 2020).
[2] Boersma Tim, “The End of the Russian Energy Weapon (That Arguably Was Never There)”, Brookings, 5 March, 2015. Available from: http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/order-from-chaos/posts/2015/03/05-end-of-russian-energy-weapon-boersma (Accessed 25 March 2020).
[3] Klapper Bradley, Lee Matthew, “The new Cold War is over Europe’s energy future”, Associated Press, 3 February, 2015. Available from: https://www.businessinsider.com/the-new-cold-war-is-over-europes-energy-future-2015-2 (Accessed 25 March 2020).
[4] Levi Michael, “An Energy Weapon vs. Russia?”, Council on Foreign Relations, 5 March 2014. Available from: https://www.cfr.org/blog/energy-weapon-vs-russia (Accessed 13 June 2020).
[5] Mayr Walter, “Putin’s Cold War Using Russian Energy as a Political Weapon”, Spiegel International, 9 January, 2006. Available from: https://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/putin-s-cold-war-using-russian-energy-as-a-political-weapon-a-394345.html (Accessed 25 March 2020).
[6] McLaughlin Daniel, Mock Vanessa, “New cold war in Europe as Russia turns off gas supplies”, Independent, 7 January 2009. Available from: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/new-cold-war-in-europe-as-russia-turns-offgas-supplies-1230036.html (Accessed 27 March 2020).
[7] McFarlane Robert, “The weaponization of energy”, Washington Times, 4 February, 2019. Available from: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/4/theweaponization-of-energy/ (Accessed 14 June 2020).
[8] Meredith Sam, “Russian energy minister ridicules Rick Perry’s idea of US ‘freedom gas’”, CNBC, 2October, 2019.Available from: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/02/russia-novak-accuses-us-of-using-liquefied-natural-gas-as-a-weapon.html (Accessed 27 March 2020).
[9] “Profiling the world’s top producers of natural gas”, NS Energy, 21 March, 2019. Available from: https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/news/top-natural-gas-producing-countries/ (Accessed 29 March 2020).
[10] Vitrenko Yuriy, “Russia weaponizing gas”, Politico, 29 April, 2019. Available from: https://www.politico.eu/sponsored-content/russia-weaponizing-gas/ (Accessed 14 June 2020).
[11] Zhdannikov Dmitry, “Russia’s Sechin accuses U.S. of using energy as political weapon”, Reuters, 6 June, 2019. Available from: https://www.reuters.com/article/usrussia-forum-sechin-usa/rosneft-ceo-accuses-us-of-using-energy-as-a-politicalweapon-idUSKCN1T70V0 (Accessed 27 March 2020).
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
