The Merging of Energy Security and Secirty: The Russia-Ukraine Disputes and the in Amenas Attack

Energy security and security issues seem to be increasingly inter-twined in today’s international relations. How are global and European discourses  on wider as well as more traditional security and energy inter-linked?  Which challenges are policy-makers  faced  with in  dealing  with  this? Central  to  the  emergence  of energy  on  the  security  agenda  are  the  debates  about  shifting  global  power  patterns.  Rising  or emerging powers  (especially  the BRICS:  Brazil,  Russia,  India,  China and South  Africa)  are  improving their  status internationally-hence the label ‘rising’ powers - through a  combination of  fast -growing  economies,resources  and a certain degree of acceptance of the liberal order (China and Russia), however, are already substantial military powers and  oppose  the liberal  order). In  Europe,  this  debate  has  been  particularly focused on the return of Russia as an aspiring great power, a status that is in part a result of increased state revenue from its vast energy resources. The discursive linking of energy security and ‘realist’ power politics also has contributed to empowering Russia and its return as  a regional and global actor, some argue.  The past months’ crisis between Russia and Ukraine, also indirectly involving  Europe  and  the  West,  definitely has put the issue of energy security on the international and European agenda.