Growing importance of energy and military security of the Visegrad Group

• Název práce v češtině: Vzrůstající důležitost energetické a vojenské bezpečnosti Visegrádské skupiny
• Název v anglickém jazyce: Growing importance of energy and military security of the Visegrad Group
• Klíčová slova: sekuritizace, Visegrádská skupina, V4, energetická bezpečnost, vojenská bezpečnost, plynová krize, energetická spolupráce, vojenská spolupráce
• Klíčová slova anglicky: securitization, Visegrad Group, V4, energy security, military security, gas crisis, energy cooperation, military cooperation
• Akademický rok vypsání: 2010/2011
• Typ práce: diplomová práce
• Jazyk práce: angličtina
• Ústav: Katedra politologie (23-KP)
• Vedoucí / školitel: PhDr. Michael Romancov, Ph.D.
• Řešitel: skrytý - zadáno vedoucím/školitelem
• Datum přihlášení: 10.10.2011
• Datum zadání: 10.10.2011
• Datum a čas obhajoby: 29.01.2013 09:00
• Místo konání obhajoby: IPS FSV UK, U kříže 8/661 158 00 Praha 5 – Jinonice
• Datum odevzdání elektronické podoby: 04.01.2013
• Datum proběhlé obhajoby: 29.01.2013
• Oponenti: Mgr. Petr Binhack, Ph.D.

Zásady pro vypracování

Thesis Proposal
Natalia Kierczak
Thesis supervisor: PhDr. Michael Romancov, Ph.D.

I).
1. Proposed Topic:
Growing importance of energy security of the Visegrad Group (V4) member states and possible perspectives of cooperation in this field among them analysed from the constructivist approach.
a) Recognizing the problem
The thesis will recognize the problems and issues of cooperative mechanism within the V4 in areas of military cooperation and energy security affairs. It will argue that military cooperation and energy security are connected to each other because all of the V4 states have a common adversary in both areas and it is Russia.
Energy security and military affairs are issues that are crucial for security and stability of states. In case of V4 countries it might be argued that those issues have a similar feature- V4 countries might try to cooperate because they perceive Russia as a threat in military and energy security fields. Russia poses potential threats for V4 countries. For example, when considering military issues it is important to mention Russia’s military exercises in 2009 when Poland was chosen as a potential aggressor. During the war games (called Operation West) the Russian army attacked beach in Kaliningrad neigbouring Poland and attacked a gas pipeline. During the same exercises, Russian air force practiced using nuclear weapons.
Moreover, Russia has proved in the last years that it is able to use its energy exports as a tool how to fulfill its political goals. V4 countries might feel threatened that their high dependence on Russia might lead Russia to use energy resources as a political tool against them.
V4 countries might also see that interests of most of EU and NATO members differ from their own interests. Not all member states of the EU see Russian energy exports as dependent on political situation and they do not see limitation of supplies to some countries as a political threat. The V4 countries have reasons to see problems with supplies in those threatening terms.
Concerning NATO, some member states do not perceive Russia as a military threat and it is not named as a threat in NATO’s strategic documents. However, due to events such as Russian military exercises and an attack against Georgia in 2008, the V4 countries have a different perspective of this. Russia is closer geographically to them, Poland has border with Kaliningrad, all V4 countries have also long and difficult history of conflicts with Russia. Because of that, their understanding of Russia and its actions differs from Western members of the Alliance and might lead to closer cooperation within a group of like-minded Central European countries.
Military cooperation within the V4 is just occurring in form of a battle group led by Poland. There are also certain examples of cooperation in energy security affairs, such as construction of Poland-Czech Republic gas pipeline and planned project of a gas connection between Slovakia and Hungary. Interconnection between military and energy security affairs among V4 is seen in their geopolitical position, geographical proximity to Russia, historical context, and strategic importance of both military affairs and energy security.
b) Theoretical framework:
Constructivism will be used as theoretical framework for the thesis. Constructivism offers several concepts which can be helpful in understanding relationships between the V4 and Russia, as well as between military cooperation and energy security cooperation.
Those concepts are in particular securitization and speech act. Securitization examines how certain acts and issues are transformed into security issues and it is useful to test how the V4 politicians perceive Russia and its policies and whether they perceive Russia’s acts as security threats. It is also important to see whether their understanding of threats changes through years and depends on Russia’s acts, such as military exercies or energy security conflicts.
Ideas are expressed through language so analyzing speeach acts of the V4 politicians will help to state their attitude towards Russia and its policies concerning the V4 countries.

2. Subject Motivation:
Energy security is a crucial concern for all Central European countries. Those countries have some features in common- they are members of the EU and NATO, they are highly dependent on Russia and they have similar geopolitical positions. However, they are also some differences between them in their interests. As the Visegrad Group decided to cooperate on military affairs and to create a battle group that is not going to be a part of NATO command, it is important to see whether it is willing and ready to cooperate on other crucial issues, such as energy security.

3. Aims:

- To analyse whether countries of the V4 can cooperate with each other in the field of energy security as they are planning to cooperate in military affairs;
- To analyse case studies of energy security cooperation in the past;
- To predict whether further cooperation in this field is possible (based on content analysis of the speeches and analysis of the documents).
- To present linkage between traditional military security and geopolitics in energy security

4. Main Hypotheses and Research Questions

- Variables mentioned in this section are working variables, they might be developed or changed during the research

a) Deepening cooperation among the V4 states outside other international organizations depends on their common growing interests in military and energy security fields.
Variables: cooperation- growing common interests- shared interests in military and energy security
- Why have the V4 countries decided to form a battle group outside of NATO?
- What may lead them to closer cooperation in energy security?
- What are the successful examples of energy security cooperation within the V4?

b) Energy crises 2005-2009 presented increasing recognition of vulnerability of the V4 states and became an impetus to develop energy security strategies.

Variables: crisis- revaluation-shared interest

- What are the interests of V4 countries concerning energy security?
- Which interests do they have in common?
- How can they protect their interests?
- Are they prepared in political and technical terms to share critical infrastructure?
- What are the differences in structures of energy industry and energy consumption among the V4 states?

c) Constructivism offers analytical tools which can be employed to explain cooperation in military and energy security affairs.
- How might military cooperation and a possibility of energy cooperation be analyzed in terms of constructivism?
- What does content analysis show us about past cooperation in energy security?


5. Chosen method:
Dependent variable is cooperation in military and energy security affairs. Independent variables are shared interests, crises, revaluation of interests. Those variables are tentative as more variables might be found during the research and some might be omitted.
Factors which are crucial for understanding of military and energy security cooperation are:
- Content analysis of speeches of ministers of foreign affairs of the V4 countries. The analysis will show how often they mention certain words, such as “Russia”, “energy security”, “energy security crisis”, “energy security threat” etc. It will show whether the importance of this issue is growing and how quickly it is growing in each state. This analysis will also present priority of energy security issues for certain leaders.
- Content analysis of mainstream media after the speeches about energy security- to examine to what extent ideas of foreign affairs ministers are accepted by the media and whether they are critisised.
- Qualitative content analysis of speeches based on constructivist variables- testing to what extent the V4 countries share common threat perception.
- Qualitative content analysis of speeches concerning military cooperation- to what extent the V4 states are planning to rely on it according to speeches of their foreign ministers
- Case study analysis: analysis of the military cooperation framework in order to examine its importance
- Case study analysis: cases of cooperation in energy security affairs and chances for such cooperation in the future

II).

1. Planned structure of the thesis
- Introduction (explanation of the concepts);
- description of military cooperation within the V4 and its analysis from the constructivist perspective;
- analysis of energy security situation of all V4 member states (also from constructivist perspective);
- description of past cooperation in energy security affairs;
- content analysis of the speeches and documents concerning energy security cooperation;
- perspectives of future cooperation- content analysis of the speeches and documents;
- summary (summary of the findings of the research).

Seznam odborné literatury

III).
1. Bibliography:

a) General sources and textbooks:
- Kalicki, J. H. – Goldwyn, D. L., (eds.): Energy & Security: Toward a New Foreign Policy Strategy. John Hopkins University Press, 2005.
- Miller, R.: Central Europe’s Energy Security Schism. Center for European Policy Analysis, 2008.

b) Monograph:

- Friedman, G.: Visegrad: A New European Military Force. Stratfor, 2011.
- Guzzini, S.-Leander, A. (eds): Constructivism and International Relations: Alexander Wendt and his Critics. London: Routledge.
- Luft, G. – Korin, A. (eds.): Energy Security Challenges for the 21st Century. Oxford: Praeger Security International, 2009.
- Prorok V. (ed.): Energetická bezpečnost – geopolitické souvislosti. Praha: Professional Publishing, 2008.
- Youngs, R.: Energy Security: Europe´s New Foreign Policy Challange. London: Routledge, 2009.
- Zehfuss. M.: Constructivism in International Relations: The Politics of Reality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

c) Other sources:

- Energy Policy of Poland until 2030. Ministry of Economy, Warsaw, 2010.
- Energy Policy of the Slovak Republic. Government of the Slovak Republic, Bratislava, 2006.
- Minister’s Annual Address on foreign policy 2000-2010 and other statements. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Prague.
- Minister’s Annual Address on foreign policy 2000-2010 and other statements. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Budapest.
- Minister's Annual Address on foreign policy 2000-2010 and other statements. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, Warsaw.
- Minister’s Annual Address on foreign policy 2000-2010 and other statements. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Bratislava.
- State’s Energy Policy of the Czech Republic. Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, Prague, 2004.
- The New Energy Strategy. Ministry of National Development of Hungary, Budapest, 2010.
- Speeches and statements of ministers of foreign affairs from bilateral and multilateral meetings, 2000-2010.