Pipeline politics: Georgia and energy security

Abstract

The development of new energy export infrastructure, which bypasses Russia, has constituted a fundamental element of US and European engagement with the Caucasus in recent years, but has, to some extent, undermined Moscow's hegemony in an area that it considers to be its own ‘strategic backyard’. This article examines the validity of the argument that Russian military intervention in Georgia in August 2008 was motivated by so-called ‘petro-politics’ and a desire to punish Tbilisi for its overt pro-Western orientation. It analyses the significance of the pipelines that transit Georgia and their implications for European energy security, together with the potential consequences of the 2008 conflict for future infrastructure developments.