81094 - Security and Energy in the XXI Century

Learning outcomes

The course focuses on the relations between security and energy supplies in international politics. In assessing the evolution of national security over the last twenty years,it will illustrate the concept of energy security and its implications on national policies. Accordingly, we will explore how important it is to exert control - or influence - over some key strategic resources and areas is crucial in the 21st century. Moreover, the policies of Russia, Turkey and the US will be examined in detail. By concentrating on the Caspian region, students will learn to critically analyze the interactions among major, middle and local powers and become aware of how material factors (i.e. geography and the access to strategically relevant resources) affect international politics.

Course contents

In order to complete successfully this course, the students will be able to:

1. Elaborate a clear and complete argument on the role of geographical constraints in shaping foreign policy and how energy supplies affect power relations between Russia, the US and Turkey in the Caspian area.
2. Gather, organize, assemble and analyze the data and communicate the findings.
3. Provide a critical assessment of the role of energy supplies in the current and future relations among the US, Turkey and Russia;
4. Describe the strategic role played by the Caspian region in the East-West relations.

Readings/Bibliography

Valigi, Marco (ed.) (2014), Caspian Security Issues, conflicts cooperation and energy supplies, Edizioni Epoké, Novi Ligure

Yergin, D. (2006), Ensuring Energy Security”, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 85, No. 2, pp. 69-82

Valigi, M. (ed.) (2014), Caspian Security Issues, conflicts cooperation and energy supplies, pp. 11-26

Baev, P. (2001), Russia's policies in the Southern Caucasus and the Caspian area, European Security, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 95-110

Valigi, M. (ed.) (2014), Caspian Security Issues, conflicts cooperation and energy supplies, pp.27-46

Croissant [http://www.tandfonline.com/action/doSearch?action=runSearch&type=advanced&searchType=journal&result=true&prevSearch=%2Bauthorsfield%3A(Croissant%2C+M+P)], M. (1998), U.S. interests in the Caspian Sea Basin, Comparative Strategy, Vol. 16 [http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ucst20?open=16#vol_16], No.4, pp. 353-367

Cornell, S. (2004), Nato’s Role in South Caucasus Regional Security
http://old.silkroadstudies.org/new/docs/publications/2004/TPQ.pdf

Valigi, M. (ed.) (2014), Caspian Security Issues, conflicts cooperation and energy supplies, pp.47-68

Larrabee [http://www.tandfonline.com/action/doSearch?action=runSearch&type=advanced&searchType=journal&result=true&prevSearch=%2Bauthorsfield%3A(Larrabee%2C+S+F)], S. (2010), Turkey's New Geopolitics, Survival: Global Politics and Strategy, Vol. 52 [http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tsur20?open=52#vol_52], No.2 [http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tsur20/52/2], pp.157-180

Saivetz [http://www.tandfonline.com/action/doSearch?action=runSearch&type=advanced&searchType=journal&result=true&prevSearch=%2Bauthorsfield%3A(Saivetz%2C+C+R)] C. (2009), Tangled Pipelines: Turkey's Role in Energy Export Plans, Turkish Studies, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Special Issue-Turkey as a Trans-Regional Actor), pp. 95-10

Kardas [http://www.tandfonline.com/action/doSearch?action=runSearch&type=advanced&searchType=journal&result=true&prevSearch=%2Bauthorsfield%3A(Kardas%2C+S)] S. (2011), Turkish–Azerbaijani Energy Cooperation and Nabucco: Testing the Limits of the New Turkish Foreign Policy Rhetoric, Turkish Studies, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp.55-77

Valigi, M. (ed.) (2014), Caspian Security Issues, conflicts cooperation and energy supplies, pp.69-84

Valigi, M. (ed.) (2014), Caspian Security Issues, conflicts cooperation and energy supplies, pp.69-84

Laruelle, M., Peyrouse, S.(2009), The Militarization of the Caspian Sea: 'Great Games' and 'Small Games' Over the Caspian Fleets, The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 17-35

Frappi, C., Valigi, M. (2015), Patterns for Cooperation in the Southern Caucasus Area. Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey - Triangular Diplomacy in the Shadow of Energy Strategy, ISPI Working Papers, No. 57, pp.1-30
wp_57_2015.pdf [http://www.ispionline.it/sites/default/files/pubblicazioni/wp_57_2015.pdf]

Valigi, M. (ed.) (2014), Caspian Security Issues, conflicts cooperation and energy supplies, pp.117-130

Collins [http://www.tandfonline.com/action/doSearch?action=runSearch&type=advanced&searchType=journal&result=true&prevSearch=%2Bauthorsfield%3A(Collins%2C+K)], K. (2009), Economic and Security Regionalism among Patrimonial Authoritarian Regimes: The Case of Central Asia, Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 61, No. 2, pp. 249-281

Valigi, M. (ed.) (2014), Caspian Security Issues, conflicts cooperation and energy supplies, pp.131-152

Colgan [http://www.mitpressjournals.org/action/doSearch?action=runSearch&type=advanced&result=true&prevSearch=%2Bauthorsfield%3A(Colgan%2C+J+D)], J. (2013), Fueling the Fire: Pathways from Oil to War, International Security, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 147–180.

Valigi, M. (ed.) (2014), Caspian Security Issues, conflicts cooperation and energy supplies, pp.153-172

German, T. (2009), Pipeline politics: Georgia and energy security, Small Wars & Insurgencies, Vol. 20 [http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fswi20?open=20#vol_20], No. 2 [http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/fswi20/20/2] ( Special Issue: Crisis in the Caucasus. Russia, Georgia and the West [http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/fswi20/20/2] ), pp. 344-362

Nanay, J. & Smith Stegen, K. (2012), Russia and the Caspian region: challenges for transatlantic energy security?, Journal of Transatlantic Studies, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 343-357

Perovic, J. (2006), From disegnagement to active econiomic competition, Russia’s return the South-Causasus and Central Asia, Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, Volume 13, Number 1 / Winter, 61-86

Jofi, J. (1999), Pipeline Diplomacy: The Clinton Administration’s Fight for Baku–Ceyhan, WWS Case Study 1/99, Princetown University Press Vol. 1 No.1.

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a360382.pdf

Younkyoo Kim, Gu-Ho Eom (2008), The Geopolitics of Caspian Oil: Rivalries of the US, Russia, and Turkey in the South Caucasus, Global Economic Review: Perspectives on East Asian Economies and Industries, Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 85-106

 

 

Teaching methods

Students are required to participate actively.

The Thursday class will be devoted to debating some of the major security issues in the Caspian region. Every week students will be required to read in advance one/two academic articles on the selected topic.

Please note that attendance is not the same as participation. Participation implies reading articles, offering questions and comments, debating with professors and colleagues.

Assessment methods

Oral exam

Office hours

See the website of Marco Cesa

See the website of Marco Valigi