For our first official event of the academic year, we are hosting Margarita M. Balmaceda, author of the recently published book ‘Russian energy chains: The Remaking of Technopolitics from Siberia to Ukraine to the European Union’ which will undeniably become the most authoritative book on the subject of post-Soviet energy relations. Margarita will present the key highlights of her book with a contemporary commentary on the current gas price crisis [p1] [p2] and Nord Stream 2 implications. Attendees will have the opportunity to take part in an interactive discussion after the presentation. In her book, Margarita looks at Russia’s fossil fuel exports of natural gas, oil and coal and their transportation from Siberia to Germany, passing by Ukraine. In this comprehensive analysis of the intricacies of the Russia energy value chain, Margarita highlights the key power dynamics at play in delivering the fossil fuels exports to Germany. She examines how energy can at the same time represent a threat and an opportunity for the countries involved and how different energy types generate different political and technical outcomes.
Chair and Introduction: Professor Michael LaBelle, CEU Dept of Environmental Sciences and Policy and Economics and Business
About Margarita: Margarita M. Balmaceda is a Professor of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University and Research Associate at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. A specialist on the political economy of the post-Soviet states, she is the author of, among others, Energy Dependency, Politics and Corruption in the Former Soviet Union (Routledge, 2008), The Politics of Energy Dependency: Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania Between Domestic Oligarchs and Russian Pressure (University of Toronto Press, 2013), Living the High Life in Minsk: Russian Energy Rents, Domestic Populism and Belarus’ Impending Crisis (Central European University Press, 2014) and of course of ‘Russian Energy Chains’ (2021) which we will be at the centre of discussion. Under a Marie Curie Fellowship from the EU and fellowships from Fulbright, Alexander von Humboldt and other Foundations, she has conducted extensive field research in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Moldova on the links between energy policies and political development.
Book is available here with the 20% discount code CUP20 (at checkout).
Recommend sources:
On Nord Stream 2 and its impact in Ukraine: https://www.cupblog.org/2021/09/29/ukraine-life-after-nord-stream-2-by-margarita-m-balmaceda/
My Energy 2050 podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/hu/podcast/ep-37-russia-s-energy-chains-of-value-and/id1531455570?i=1000536373576