A Transnational Challenge – Energy Security

Abstract

Transnational challenges have added a level of complexity to international and national security as the geopolitical landscape adjusts and responds. Such challenges transcend individual borders to involve other nation-states regardless of whether they are willing or unwilling actors. One such transnational challenge is energy security and the resilience of the energy supply system. While energy is generally considered as a national issue associated with meeting the internal needs of a civil society, it is also part of a wider dynamic global system that is vulnerable to a number of factors and is a major influence in framing foreign policy stances. This paper addresses the linkage between energy security and foreign policy at both the state and international levels. It does this by examining some of the issues and challenges associated with energy as a transnational security issue and the ways it affects relations between nation-states. The focus of this paper is on petroleum-based fuel and gas, and on the security and resilience of the energy supply system. Given the ongoing dependence on these traditional forms of energy, it is argued that these energy systems need to be resilient so that, in turn, civil society is resilient and human security is enhanced. The paper explores some of the issues for the European Union (EU) including the resilience of its associated energy systems. The paper also considers issues that enhance or inhibit the resilience of the energy system with particular reference to the EU.