Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe Series

<p>This book argues that the influence of US-Russian security competition on the energy policies of EU member states and on the development of a unified European energy security policy has been significantly underestimated. While most previous studies have focused on internal EU dynamics and the role of Russian interests, this work takes a broader perspective by examining how transatlantic rivalries have shaped European approaches to energy security.</p><p>By tracing the evolution of European energy security policy from the Cold War era through the present, the book connects shifts in policy to the changing dynamics of US-Soviet and later US-Russian energy competition. It demonstrates that, after the Soviet Union’s collapse, the United States did not initially view European reliance on Russian energy as a threat. However, as US-Russian competition intensified, Washington increasingly framed Europe’s dependence on Russian gas as a security risk and actively sought to block the expansion of Russian energy infrastructure into Europe. The book also explores how, despite the EU’s early treaties being energy-focused, energy security only became a central foreign policy concern for the Union in the mid-2000s. Ultimately, the author argues that scholars of international relations must consider both great power dynamics and intra-European factors to fully understand the development of European energy policy.</p><p>The book will be of interest to students and researchers in geopolitics, international relations, energy politics, regional studies, and European studies.</p>