Energy Security in Asia and Eurasia

Many states appear to have strong sentiment on energy security and energy transit vulnerability. Some analysts see the rapidly increasing demand for energy and competition for energy resources leading to nationalistic energy policies. Others argue that global trends with efficient energy markets and growing options on renewables suggest more relaxed energy outlooks.

This book focuses on Asia, where global demand for energy is now concentrated in the aspiring and rising powers of the region: China, India, Japan and South Korea, and also recognises the importance of Russia as a growing energy supplier. Contributions by experts in the field provide detailed and parallel case studies. Shedding light on the ongoing debate in the literature regarding energy outlooks of major Asian states, they analyse whether energy policies are expected to evolve along market oriented cooperative lines or more competitive and even destructive mercantile, nationalist lines. The book argues that states are not unitary actors even in the key energy security arena and there are competing and contrasting viewpoints in Asian states on energy security. It suggests that domestic debates structure thinking on energy security, making energy policy more contingent than assumed by purely market or geopolitical logics.

Providing a strong contribution to comparative energy security studies, the book fills an important gap in the literature on energy and national security and offers a basis for conducting further inter-state, interactive analysis. It will be of interest to researchers on Asian Studies, energy politics and international relations.

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Editors:

  • Mike M. Mochizuki holds the Japan-U.S. Relations Chair in Memory of Gaston Sigur at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University
  • Deepa M. Ollapally is research professor of international affairs and the associate director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University

Book Chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction: The Energy Security Dissonance, by Deepa M. Ollapally

Chapter 2: Energy Security and Foreign Investment: Asian Resource Nationalism in a Political-Economy Mirror, by Robert Weiner

Chapter 3: Outlooks on Chinese Energy Security Vulnerabilities, by Zha Daojiong and Robert Sutter

Chapter 4: Indian Perspectives on Energy Security: Convergence and Divergence by Deepa M. Ollapally and Sudha Mahalingam

Chapter 5: Japan’s Energy Security: Strategic Discourse and Domestic Politics, by Mike M. Mochizuki and Richard Samuels

Chapter 6: Energy and Transit Security in South Korea, by Scott A. Snyder

Chapter 7: The Energy Factor in Russia’s ‘Asia Pivot’, by Shoichi Itoh and Andrew Kuchins

Chapter 8: Oil, Asia, and U.S. Foreign and Security Policy, by Charles L. Glaser

 

RPI would like to thank the MacArthur Foundation for its support of RPI’s research on maritime and energy security in the Indo-Pacific that contributed to this book.