Does Energy Cause Ethnic War? East Mediterranean and Caspian Sea Natural Gas and Regional Conflicts
The Caspian Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean are two regions with abundant energy resources. Their gas routes to Europe intersect and actors, exporters, pipeline owners and operators, transit states and downstream customers are connected to one another in a web of political and economic interdependencies. More significantly, these regions have been plagued by deep-seated ethnic conflicts and disputes: namely, the two oldest registered in the United Nations (the Cyprus and the Arab-Israeli Conflicts), the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, the Syria War and numerous tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Caspian Sea and the Balkan regions. This book investigates what impact these energy resources have had on the respective conflicts and disputes, as well as their influence on the power game between the EU and Russia.
Andreas Stergiou is Associate Professor at the Department of Economics of the University of Thessaly, Greece, and a Teaching Fellow at the Open University of Greece. He has previously been Visiting Research Fellow at the Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace at Hebrew University, Israel, at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy (ADA University).
Marika Karagianni is a legal and political expert, and previously worked as Special Advisor on Bilateral and Multilateral Energy Relations to the Ministers and Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic. She is currently a permanent expert at the Hellenic Government on energy security, and holds a PhD on the “Legal Aspects of Offshore Hydrocarbons’ Development in the Caspian Sea” from the Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. She is also a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Political Science and International Relations of the University of Peloponnese.
“The book has done a good job of a difficult subject in a challenging part of the world, stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Eastern Mediterranean. It identifies, describes and analyses the problems and conflicts of the region, revolving around energy, in a pragmatic manner. It successfully avoids the typical ‘conspiracy theories’ that dog the region […] and navigates a careful and realistic path through the key issues of exploiting natural gas resources in a region characterized by strong geopolitics and full of conflicting interests. The book covers well the key areas of Eastern Europe, the Caspian and the Eastern Mediterranean. It is supported by direct interviews of regional experts, academics, diplomats and politicians. As such, it captures regional knowledge and experience well and blends this with an in-depth literature review to analyse meticulously the key issues and draw incisive and down-to-earth conclusions. […] The authors back their arguments well with relevant data, facts and detail that are still valid despite the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic and the crisis engulfing the global oil and gas industry. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in really understanding the complexities of a chaotic region and anyone who plans to do business in this part of the world in energy, but also in any other areas that involve cross-border security and cooperation.”
Dr Charles Ellinas
Senior Fellow, Global Energy Center; Atlantic Council
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