Rethinking Energy Policy in Central and Eastern Europe

This paper provides an overview of an upcoming book which seeks to do just this by asking the questions, what role does Russia play in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) energy sector and how did the Russian-CEE energy relationship develop since the early 1990s? One of the central thesis outlined here argues that in order to fully understand Russian involvement in the regional CEE energy complex, the RussianCEE energy relationship should be analysed in the context of the political and economic transition that both Russia and the CEE states underwent following 1989. It is asserted that questions on which energy security analysis normally center—such as a country’s energy mix, its transport system, and energy vulnerabilities—have to be considered along with questions related to the post-communist transformation, interactions between emerging post-socialist elites in Russia and the CEE region, as well as general governance structures