Discursive Politics of Energy in EU–Russia Relations

Abstract

Vladimir Putin’s regime has struggled to restore Russia’s great power status. The discourses that have emerged around Russian energy wealth play a particularly significant role in this struggle and shape Russia’s identity in international relations. These multiple and contradictory understandings of energy resources are encapsulated in the two dominant discourses: the energy superpower and the raw-material appendage discourses. This paper examines these discourses and then demonstrates how they shape Russia’s energy diplomacy toward the European Union (EU).