IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/rripxx/v22y2015i5p941-965.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Soft power with a hard edge: EU policy tools and energy security

Author

Listed:
  • Andreas Goldthau
  • Nick Sitter

Abstract

International security debates surrounding the European Union (EU) energy supply challenge commonly invoke the need for more EU hard power - e.g. getting tough on Russia or engaging directly with other exporters. This article investigates whether what might be labelled 'soft power with a hard edge' instead amounts to a consistent policy strategy for the EU. The central argument is that the EU has turned a weakness into strength, and developed a set of tools that sharpen the way soft power is exercised in the energy sector. The article explores how soft power affects companies that 'come and play' on the EU market: the rules of the Single European Market (SEM) and how they affect external firms. It also assesses the long reach of the SEM: both the gravitational 'pull' the SEM exerts in the 'near aboard', and the EU's 'push' to facilitate the development of midstream infrastructure and upstream investment. The conclusion is that the EU regulatory state is emerging as an international energy actor in its own right. It limits the ways states like Russia can use state firms in the geopolitical game; and it exports its model into the near abroad, thus stabilizing energy supply and transit routes.

Suggested Citation

  • Andreas Goldthau & Nick Sitter, 2015. "Soft power with a hard edge: EU policy tools and energy security," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(5), pages 941-965, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rripxx:v:22:y:2015:i:5:p:941-965
    DOI: 10.1080/09692290.2015.1008547
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09692290.2015.1008547
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09692290.2015.1008547?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel W. Drezner, 2007. "Bringing the Great Powers Back In, from All Politics Is Global: Explaining International Regulatory Regimes," Introductory Chapters, in: All Politics Is Global: Explaining International Regulatory Regimes, Princeton University Press.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Escribano, Gonzalo & Paredes-Gazquez, Juandiego & San-Martín, Enrique, 2020. "The European Union and the good governance of energy resources: Practicing what it preaches?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    2. Michael Carnegie LaBelle, 2023. "Energy as a weapon of war: Lessons from 50 years of energy interdependence," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 14(3), pages 531-547, June.
    3. Locatelli, C., 2018. "La confrontation des systèmes institutionnels nationaux dans l'interdépendance : les échanges gaziers UE-Russie," Working Papers 2018-03, Grenoble Applied Economics Laboratory (GAEL).
    4. Andreas Goldthau & Nick Sitter, 2021. "Horses for courses. The roles of IPE and Global Public Policy in global energy research [The profits of power: Commerce and realpolitik in Eurasia]," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 40(4), pages 467-483.
    5. Mišík, Matúš, 2016. "On the way towards the Energy Union: Position of Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia towards external energy security integration," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 68-81.
    6. Nicoli, Francesco & van der Duin, David & Burgoon, Brian, 2023. "Which Energy Security Union? An experiment on public preferences for energy union alternatives in 5 western European countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    7. Catherine Locatelli, 2018. "La confrontation des systèmes institutionnels nationaux dans l'interdépendance : les échanges gaziers UE-Russie," Working Papers hal-01715932, HAL.
    8. Odysseas Christou, 2021. "Energy Security in Turbulent Times Towards the European Green Deal," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 360-369.
    9. Francesca Pia Vantaggiato, 2020. "Networks as First Best? Network Entrepreneurship and Venue Shifting in the Establishment of the Network of Euro–Mediterranean Energy Regulators," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 654-671, May.
    10. Landry, Paulina, 2020. "The EU strategy for gas security: Threats, vulnerabilities and processes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    11. Mehdi Abbas & Catherine Locatelli, 2019. "Interdependence as a lever for national hybridization: The EU-Russia gas trade [L’hybridation des systèmes institutionnels nationaux dans l’interdépendance. Les échanges gaziers UE-Russie]," Post-Print hal-02472141, HAL.
    12. Locatelli, C. & Abbas, M., 2019. "Interdépendance complexe et hybridation des modèles institutionnels nationaux : le cas des relations énergétique UE-Russie," Working Papers 2019-02, Grenoble Applied Economics Laboratory (GAEL).
    13. Catherine Locatelli & Mehdi Abbas, 2019. "Interdépendance complexe et hybridation des modèles institutionnels nationaux : le cas des relations énergétiques UE-Russie," Working Papers hal-02100098, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gary Goertz & Tony Hak & Jan Dul, 2013. "Ceilings and Floors," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 42(1), pages 3-40, February.
    2. Jonas Tallberg & Thomas Sommerer & Theresa Squatrito, 2016. "Democratic memberships in international organizations: Sources of institutional design," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 59-87, March.
    3. Sandra Lavenex & Flavia Jurje, 2021. "Opening‐up labor mobility? Rising powers' rulemaking in trade agreements," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(3), pages 598-615, July.
    4. Lucia Quaglia, 2021. "It Takes Two to Tango: The European Union and the International Governance of Securitization in Finance," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(6), pages 1364-1380, November.
    5. Alexander Reisenbichler, 2015. "The domestic sources and power dynamics of regulatory networks: evidence from the financial stability forum," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(5), pages 996-1024, October.
    6. Pellegrini, Pablo A., 2013. "What risks and for whom? Argentina's regulatory policies and global commercial interests in GMOs," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 129-138.
    7. Matthias Thiemann, 2014. "In the Shadow of Basel: How Competitive Politics Bred the Crisis," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(6), pages 1203-1239, December.
    8. Jacint Jordana & Xavier Fernández‐i‐Marín & Andrea C. Bianculli, 2018. "Agency proliferation and the globalization of the regulatory state: Introducing a data set on the institutional features of regulatory agencies," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(4), pages 524-540, December.
    9. Erica Owen & Stefanie Walter, 2017. "Open economy politics and Brexit: insights, puzzles, and ways forward," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 179-202, March.
    10. Leonardo Baccini, 2010. "Explaining formation and design of EU trade agreements: The role of transparency and flexibility," European Union Politics, , vol. 11(2), pages 195-217, June.
    11. Lucia Quaglia, 2014. "The European Union, the USA and International Standard Setting by Regulatory Fora in Finance," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 427-444, May.
    12. J.C. Sharman, 2017. "Illicit Global Wealth Chains after the financial crisis: micro-states and an unusual suspect," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 30-55, January.
    13. Tony Porter, 2014. "Technical systems and the architecture of transnational business governance interactions," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(1), pages 110-125, March.
    14. Daniel Mügge & Bart Stellinga, 2015. "The unstable core of global finance: Contingent valuation and governance of international accounting standards," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(1), pages 47-62, March.
    15. Mark Beeson & Jolanta Hewitt, 2022. "Does Multilateralism still Matter? ASEAN and the Arctic Council in Comparative Perspective," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(2), pages 208-218, May.
    16. Johannes Matschke, 2021. "National Interests, Spillovers and Macroprudential Coordination," Research Working Paper RWP 21-13, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
    17. Mark Beeson & Fujian Li, 2016. "China's Place in Regional and Global Governance: A New World Comes Into View," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 7(4), pages 491-499, November.
    18. Abraham Newman & Elliot Posner, 2016. "Transnational feedback, soft law, and preferences in global financial regulation," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 123-152, February.
    19. Benjamin Cashore & Michael W. Stone, 2014. "Does California need Delaware? Explaining Indonesian, Chinese, and United States support for legality compliance of internationally traded products," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(1), pages 49-73, March.
    20. ., 2013. "The dynamics of global governance," Chapters, in: The Dynamics of Global Economic Governance, chapter 2, pages 38-59, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:rripxx:v:22:y:2015:i:5:p:941-965. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/rrip20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.