Afterword: Findings and Further Avenues of Inquiry

Abstract

Dynamics of Energy Governance in Europe and Russia has aimed to bring energy into international political economy (IPE) by analysing regional energy governance dynamics within a contemporary IPE framework. More than anything else, the book has revealed the fruitfulness of interdisciplinary dialogue, and the utility of approaches which escape from narrow disciplinary perspectives. While states and markets have clearly been central components of the IPE analysis of energy governance provided here, a diversity of factors influencing energy governance have also been highlighted in these chapters, not least mounting political support for climate change mitigation and informal institutions that promote policy transfer, such as best practices policy narratives. Several chapters have revealed the utility of understanding matters of international law for an IPE analysis, while others point to the interdependence of market mechanisms with the activities of both transnational treaties and cooperative frameworks. Moreover, a deliberate focus on actors beyond ‘the state’ such as transnational corporations, international organisations and treaties, sub-state actors, and to a lesser extent NGOs, proved to be key to understanding energy governance in Europe and Russia.